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Questions tagged [fusion]

For questions about nuclear fusion in general.

6 votes
5 answers
1k views

Feasible compact fusion power source

Many questions here about power sources, not an exact fit and many are now years old and since we've reached fusion Q=1, perhaps some have better insight on future development. I need a generative non-...
Gillgamesh's user avatar
  • 6,203
17 votes
15 answers
5k views

Why would newer spaceships still have core ejection systems despite the proliferation of fusion reactors?

Set in near future Space tourism becomes a thing, the older spaceships have some issues with their nuclear reactors that occasionally suffers from positive void coefficient whereby the saturation of ...
user6760's user avatar
  • 48k
10 votes
3 answers
1k views

Iron drive: does this fusion superengine require clarketech? [closed]

For context: this is a very far future sci-fi setting, dozens of millenia from now, where dyson swarms and interstellar travel are commonplace, bioengineering and tech are so advanced they merge ...
Kugelblitz's user avatar
8 votes
5 answers
5k views

Is There a Lower Limit on the Size of Fusion Reactor?

It would be really cool if you could build cybernetic arms with incredible strength, power coil guns with a man portable unit, or use power armor for extended combat. One of the ways this is ...
Englishman Bob's user avatar
1 vote
6 answers
1k views

What properties would a sediment found in seawater in very trace amounts need to be useful in Nuclear Fusion?

In my world, there’s a highly energetic sediment called Teaterium that is found in seawater in extremely trace amounts (~7,500 molecules per ~200 milliliters of water). That said, despite its ...
Godzilla Louise's user avatar
8 votes
12 answers
3k views

Is it possible for a civilization that has fusion and has spread to other lifeless worlds to die out naturally if they lose their homeworld?

Key word in the title is naturally. Ignore nearby GRBs, supernovas, black holes, super powerful aliens, and anything outside of the star system that would cause problems to the civilization. Whatever ...
Water's user avatar
  • 443
5 votes
3 answers
489 views

I have an unlimited supply of antimatter -- how do I actually make my spaceship go?

I'm making a book series set in the medium and far future of humanity, at various stages. Some elements are based in harder science than others. Throughout the timeline, Dyson swarms serve as the VIP ...
ScholarMoth's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
1k views

Can we make a tokamak explode?

The Story Same events as this question. Kit is ordered to let a task-force handle a possible sabotage of the stations fusion power plant. She ignores them and vents the core plasma out into space to ...
Sam Kitsune's user avatar
  • 1,994
5 votes
10 answers
4k views

How big of an explosion can you make with a fusion reactor?

The Story This is one of three questions set in the exact same place, so bear with me here. Twenty years after the fall of the State and the Overseers, about thirty since the phase-gate to Ilus was ...
Sam Kitsune's user avatar
  • 1,994
5 votes
3 answers
254 views

Could a sufficiently heavy element serve as a muon source to catalyze nuclear fusion?

I have lately been researching methods of "cold fusion", or fusion reactions which do not generate much waste heat, for use as a spacecraft power system (my propulsion system idea is ...
Lelu's user avatar
  • 1,042
3 votes
1 answer
213 views

Amount of fuel needed for a long-running fusion reactor

Let’s say people (humans) arrive on a planet. Oh no, it’s too hot! Okay, we live underground in lava tubes. Oh no, it’s too dark! Okay, so illuminate the tubes with self-repairing fusion-reactors that ...
user98816's user avatar
  • 8,651
4 votes
2 answers
115 views

Fusion Prevention Field - What Are the Plausible Mechanisms?

In my story, a group of human colonists are set to colonize a distant planet. But on their way there, the fusion drive on the ship stop functioning when they enter an uncharted system, and they crash ...
hklel's user avatar
  • 149
7 votes
4 answers
812 views

Could neutron star mergers provide the necessary elements for complex life in the early universe?

I have been looking into the earliest possible time in the universe that a human-like intelligent species could evolve based on the necessary elements being present. Kepler-444 is one of the oldest ...
user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
662 views

Industrial scale Tritium production from Helium3?

Currently Tritium is produced by neutron bombardment of Lithium. I was looking into alternatives and learned that Helium3 has a rather large cross section for reacting with thermal neutrons. From what ...
TheDyingOfLight's user avatar
10 votes
3 answers
1k views

Fusion drive in a spaceship: What would the damage be if such a ship were to be attacked?

I've recently read some news about progress in building plasma reactors. The technology is basically that plasma is held by magnet field because otherwise, it would melt everything it touches. It has ...
Maxim Zabolotskikh's user avatar

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