There's an article in the on-line Washington Post titled: Miniature nuclear reactors might be a safe, efficient source of power by Brian Palmer, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010. It's all about fission reactors making a comeback.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 04026.html
In the comments section, there were 2 or 3 comments about fusion, and no fusion mentioned other than ITER. Naturally, I had to add a comment. I cited work at EMC2, Lawrenceville, and Tri-Alpha; and suggested that increased funding in this area might help us evaluate viability sooner rather than later.
Washington Post article: miniature nuclear reactors
It takes just as many people to man a 2000 MW core as a 200 kW core. The only difference is how quick you use up your core elements, and the physical size of the core.
The South Koreans are currently in development of a 20MW standard plant; the only problem with such plants ifs the number of people you need to man them.
Thorium energy-multiplier subcritical plants could easily be made in the 10MW range; that would require ~100kW proton beams, easily reached with fairly cheap cyclotrons.
Fusion using the ITER model is not likely in the range below 20 GW; The polywell will multiply better the larger the machine; a 500 MW polywell might need 20MW startup power - but a 50 MW polywell might need 10 MW.
The South Koreans are currently in development of a 20MW standard plant; the only problem with such plants ifs the number of people you need to man them.
Thorium energy-multiplier subcritical plants could easily be made in the 10MW range; that would require ~100kW proton beams, easily reached with fairly cheap cyclotrons.
Fusion using the ITER model is not likely in the range below 20 GW; The polywell will multiply better the larger the machine; a 500 MW polywell might need 20MW startup power - but a 50 MW polywell might need 10 MW.
Wandering Kernel of Happiness