512
submitted 11 months ago by floofloof@lemmy.ca to c/technology@lemmy.ml
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] schroedingershat@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

This research comes frim the llnl weapons complex: https://wci.llnl.gov/

There is an international treaty against nuclear arms testing, so as new weapons and platforms are developed there is no way to expose them to the conditiona they'd encounter if they actually had to deploy nuclear weapons (or operate in an environment where they are being used such as trying to take out the other bomber that is on its way to destroy your other city while the first city burns).

In addition to the enormous military budget, They take large quantities of civilian money via the DOE because they pay lip service to it being "energy research". This is the part that is objectionable.

It's a cool thing, and arguably necessary given we recently got to see what happens when a country bordering Russia gives up its nuclear weapons altogether, but there is little application for energy. It may also see the development of some micro-fusion warhead with no fission component which is technically a nuclear bomb, but nigh-impossible to make if you don't have the US military budget so they'll use it anyway and say "nuh-huh!" when anyone objects.

Either the technology is highly limited in the volume where the reaction is self sustaining, so the machine as a whole will never break even energy-wise, or it is not, and every inertial confinement generator produced is essentially a weapon of mass destruction that the US will never let exist outside of the control of nuclear armed countries.

There may be some limited application to energy, but it's a stretch (essentially it would look like asking the US military nicely to come set another bomb off in your artificial geothermal reservoir every few months). It will certainly never be deployed in a non-military mobile application (which rules out most of the use cases where renewables are not strictly superior).

[-] WarmSoda@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

Very interesting, thank you.

this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023
512 points (97.4% liked)

Technology

33612 readers
376 users here now

This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.


Ask in DM before posting product reviews or ads. All such posts otherwise are subject to removal.


Rules:

1: All Lemmy rules apply

2: Do not post low effort posts

3: NEVER post naziped*gore stuff

4: Always post article URLs or their archived version URLs as sources, NOT screenshots. Help the blind users.

5: personal rants of Big Tech CEOs like Elon Musk are unwelcome (does not include posts about their companies affecting wide range of people)

6: no advertisement posts unless verified as legitimate and non-exploitative/non-consumerist

7: crypto related posts, unless essential, are disallowed

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS