RE:Compact fusion, A Harbinger of Death to Uranium?I am looking forward to this for the sake of my kids and my kids' kids.......
But, these things can take a Looooonnnnggg time to become economically viable. They aren't building Billions of $'s worth of new 50-75 year lasting Fission reactors that are going to be mothballed in 5 years, if they were sure they could back a semi-truck into Lockheed in 5 years and pull out a nice compact Fussion reactor to plug in anywhere........
So, not yet, a 6,0000 Gorrila - but some weight for sure - my biggest worry as a "long" is another negative black swan even (meltdown, another natural disaster, etc) or a FAST acting technological breakthrough that makes Uranium moot - not seeing a lot of sign of that...
While the concepts sound great (ships, planes, and spaceships, small reactors that can power 50,000 to 100,000 person towns, desalination at fraction of current cost).....they also point out that they have been working on this stuff for 60 years (fusion technology) - which shows how long it can take to perfect AND/OR produce at an economical level, and then produce on a mass scale for commercial use....That could and likely will still take decades.....
Everything starts slow and then gains momentum.
I feel there is one more giant bull U run coming - then the alternatives might make any other cycles more muted, but I still don't see enough tangible evidence that anything else can provide the needed energy in the next 20-30 years, except Fission......and in most cases that still requires new U being mined....
Would China and India and Middle East be building all these massive reactors AND investing in Small Modular Fission reactors too, IF they felt 5 years from now Fusion was truly realistic. I doubt it.....
That being said, Fusion is probably the distant future - and safe, efficient, cost efficient is good for the world......could take a 1/2 century to a century....DIFFICULT to get true picture of a timeline.
How is Tesla doing lately - just takes TIME....with ups and downs - nothing moves as quick as hoped/desired/liked - just like the turn in U spot and Future Prices lol......
I can see some prototype and then initial Fusion reactors eventually starting up - just like solar and wind and tide and other forms of energy slowly built up momentum..Fusion probably would be adopted much faster I would think - due to the efficiency and small size....gotta be tested and reliable and mass produced and compatible and likely will be patented and only copied slowly......not a tech that is likely given away......
Change is often SLOW...we are still burning oil aren't we?