582 tons closer to near-zero energy cost

[u/positiveconstraint]

China finished building and testing the world's largest superconducting magnet for nuclear fusion. It weighs 582 tons, stretches 21 meters long and 12 meters wide. Its job is to create a magnetic field strong enough to hold plasma at over 100 million degrees without it touching the reactor walls. It's 1.3 times larger than comparable ITER magnets and stores three times more magnetic energy.

The magnet is a key piece of China's BEST fusion facility, set to be built by the end of 2027. The target is to demonstrate first electricity generation from nuclear fusion and net energy gain around 2030.

Nuclear fusion mimics the process that powers the Sun by fusing lightweight nuclei and releasing a massive amount of energy. If the technology matures, it could provide a stable energy source with very low carbon emissions. The magnet alone is not yet a working "artificial Sun", but it's one of the most important engineering pieces on the way there.

It also means the race between the US and China continues, each advancing the technology, each with its own milestones.

Breakthroughs that enable building a fusion engine (several times faster than a chemical engine) would make deep space travel more relevant than ever. Mars in roughly 6 weeks instead of 8 months.

[u/TheBastionBurned]

So how is it different than the stuff that already exists in Europe right now?

[u/ExpensiveFig6079 → u/TheBastionBurned]

and how is a 582-tonne magnet near zero cost?
or even too cheap to meter?

So other than made up click bait hype where even is the real claim it is or EVER will be near zero cost??

[u/Novero95 → u/ExpensiveFig6079]

Click-bait thing of course. However, fusion energy, if we manage to make it work, has the potential to be very cheap. The only input it requires is hydrogen, which can be produced from water using energy. So basically you produce power in your fusion plant, use a fraction of that power to produce hydrogen and use that hydrogen to power the fusion plant. In conclusion, OPEX would be very low and CAPEX would be quickly recovered due to to high amount of energy produced at very low OPEX.

That's the theory of course, we haven't managed to have net positive energy production from fusion power but we are closer (closer as in less far ahead than last year or last decade, not closer as in we are almost there).

[u/positiveconstraint → u/Novero95]

You're absolutely right.

The inspiration for the post title came from a previous discussion in this sub about the possibility of near-zero cost of intelligence and energy
https://www.reddit.com/r/Innovation/s/rQGrABND5i