Different folks have different reasons. For me, the main reason is because radioactivity can't be discussed rationally with the general populace.Art Carlson wrote:I'm not exactly a fan of neutrons, but the problems they cause have technical solutions These solutions may not satisfy you, but for p-B11 no solutions are in sight, so why obsess about it?
The current crop of greenies are obsessed with the global warming religion. I was a reactor operator when TMI and Hanoi Jane hit. The greenies back then were obsessed with nuclear power. They destroyed the industry. In the US it is almost impossible to deal with or reprocess nuclear waste. DT reactions are going to generate a lot of it. Dollars to donuts, if nuclear power comes back the old time anti-nuke greenies will see a resurgence.
Another problem with DT is that plant lifetimes and plant safety is significantly compromised.
Nuclear power plants (current fission plants) have something called the BFPL (Brittle Fracture Prevention Limit) curve. For a given temperature, there is a minimum temperature to prevent drawing a bubble in the core or main coolant pumps and a maximum pressure that avoids cracking the containment vessel. The upper BFPL limit depends on how much neutron flux the vessel has been exposed to. For some older plants, the BFPL curves have had to be reset and tested multiple times. The operators on these plants need to maintain something like a 50psi window during a cold startup/shutdown. As an ex-RO, those curves scare the hell out of me. We are playing games by trying to anneal in place old containment vessels, but it is very difficult work.
Has anybody really looked at what high-neutron flux will do to some of the proposed high-temperature superconductors? Bi, Y, Ba, Cu, Ti? Even if the radiological issues aren't horrible, doesn't the same flux that embrittles steel totally mess up the superconductivity properties of the windings? You almost certainly can't anneal those things in place.
The scaffolding holding the windings in place are going to be under tremendous stress and will quite likely be cold (there will be liquid nitrogen for the superconductors). Just what kind of material can be used for that and will also stand up to high-level neutron flux?
Art Carlson wrote:If you told me that the future of the human race depended not just on energy, or even fusion energy, but on p-B11 energy (a really silly idea), I still wouldn't waste time with the polywell. I'd give it a shot with ICF:
I'll certainly chime in like everybody else and say I appreciate you spending time here. If it turns out you are wrong, your field is going to explode for a few years. That should assuage any wounded feelings.