Security - Polywell & EMP
Security - Polywell & EMP
"One question -- would a Polywell reactor be susceptible to an EMP [attack]? If so would it wreck it, or just put it out temporarily?"
Vae Victis
Re: Security - Polywell & EMP
It would just shut the thing down and cause some (probably costly, but reparable) equipment damage, like any other power plant.djolds1 wrote:"One question -- would a Polywell reactor be susceptible to an EMP [attack]? If so would it wreck it, or just put it out temporarily?"
There's no way any attack can make a fusion plant go runaway and start a supercritical reaction on its own. The first line of defense is shutting down the fuel flow to the reactor anyway.
Fission plants are different, since they have more fuel in the reactor chamber than is required to produce power at one instant. Think of the difference like a gas stove (fusion) versus a pile of burning wood (fission).
A serious attack could cause some catastrophic damage to support structuress like the vacuum vessel, and possibly cause an implosion or cause superconducting magnets to fail, but nothing that can wipe out an entire civilised area.
Because we can.