On Feb 18, 1:15 pm, J. Clarke wrote:

The fuel cost of fusion in a terrestrial power plant should also be
nil or close to it. So why do you want to push solar instead of
continuing to work on fusion?

The capital cost is astronomical and considering that there are so
many unanswered questions in regards to operating costs (assuming we
can keep one lit) a ROI is so far into the future, that in comparison,
current proven fission technology will reign for a very long time.
For fusion to be a net producer, the scale of the undertaking is so
enormous that it boggles the mind. The energy required to produce the
parts, to contain the plasma, and the uncertainty of its service-
ability and maintainability make this nothing more than an experiment.
The fusion proponents are trying to lift a 500,000 pound sledgehammer
to kill a gnat.

And by that time we should have fusion reactors online.

Keep dangling the carrots of 'free' energy and keep those research
grants coming folks.
We need to develop what we know. The billions allotted for
experimental research in fusion is terribly misplaced, IMHO. Fusion is
pie-in-the-sky. That does not mean that I don't believe we can make it
work... I do believe that the 'free' fuel won't enter into the
spreadsheet as a cost-savings for a long, long time... if ever. The
costs involved to re-face the interior of an abraded tokamak is
estimated to be a billion... and we don't know how long it takes for a
thermonuclear plasma to take the skin off the inside of the
toroid...could be a matter of a few minutes....we have no idea. The
sun-in-a-can...ya right.
Keep taxing the peasants so that the guys in the white coats can
promise the king ultimate control. (There may have been a little extra
cynicism in my cereal this morning.)

The real sun is here...free...now. Hanging outside my window. Every
day. The comparative pittance we need to make it usable for all of us,
is within reach. Let's spend a few bucks thinking about ways to store
energy as well.

....and how about those small nuclear powerpacks we use to run some
satellites? Can't we build one to power a subdivision? The size of a
trailer? How about smaller ones for each home? Or would that mean that
the 'power' is going to get away from the controlling robber-baron's
interests?

Stay tuned. Film at 11.

I hope you're enjoying the show, I'l be here all week, try the veal.