(cont'd from yesterday's post)
"Cheap, clean and plentiful" -- that's the power derived from nuclear fusion, the benefits that will make this new and hoped-for technology worth all the hard work that it's taking to get the business model into production.
It works differently from our current nuclear power plant model. Today's nuclear fission plants split an atom of uranium (U-235) to create power. "Fusion" nuclear power plants will fuse two hydrogen nuclei to create power. That's what the stars do.
It's clean because carbon emissions are near-zero, with no radioactive waste to dispose of. It's plentiful because its fuel is hydrogen, common in the universe and common on earth.
But can Helion deliver on that purchase agreement with Microsoft by 2028? Some doubt it can be done by then because of the problems yet to be solved.
In the words of a University of Chicago theoretical physicist: “I would say it’s the most audacious thing I’ve ever heard . . . But it would be astonishing if they succeed.”
from Eng8
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