Are the claims made about the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_beta_fusion_reactor realistic? Can such a small fusion reactor really work?
Answer
other people far smarter than I have since published more detailed reasons why the concept presented by Lockheed Martin can't work. One example is from two professors of plasma physics on the website of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics. To summarise
- coils inside the plasma need connections for a power supply and coolant. These connections will be in direct contact with the hot core of the plasma.
- size of shielding required for neutron protection is much larger than proposed
- fast particles are not well confined by the magnetic configuration which LM proposes. To understand this you need a good grasp of plasma physics, so I won't try to explain further. The effect has, however, been demonstrated and understood in other plasma physics experiments.
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