All entries for September 2024
September 30, 2024
The start of term – the end of the conference season
And so it is autumn again and with that the start of the new academic year. There has been much in the way of meetings for this group, increasingly with a nod to the fission community with meetings such as the Universities Nuclear Technology Forum (UNTF) and Nuclear Academics Discussion Meeting (NADM) both of which are places where fission and fusion people get to meet and discuss issues that are common to fission and fusion people and to get insights into aspects which might not be so obvious to people who are not specialists in any particular field.
The greater involvement of fission people in realizing fusion power is a benefit to all in that it will cut out some aspects of duplication and repetition, while having a better appreciation of the differences.
Some examples of this are the need for fusion-specific regulation that is tailored to the challenges and the potential dangers of fusion power that differ significantly from fission power.
There is also the rapid deployment of robotic technology in use in the fission industry. This will be critical in making fusion practical as well since areas adjancent and inside a practical fusion power plant will be expected to become significantly radioactive, even without the issues that tritiuim handling will cause.
What is clear is that working together will achieve goals faster and shows that fusion itself is becoming more of an engineering problem in terms of deployment and ensuring that it can be legislated once a power plant is ready.