ITER Tokamak: First Plasma Through High-Fusion-Gain Deuterium-Tritium Operation

Look at the numbers. The power density of a PWR fission reactor core is 100 MW/m^3. If you consider the volume of the primary reactor vessel instead, it's 20 MW/m^3.

The power density of ITER is 0.05 MW/m^3 (counting gross fusion power). Even if you just include the volume of the plasma, it's 0.6 MW/m^3.

What about higher field concepts like MIT's ARC reactor? If you look at the paper on arxiv where details are given, the power density is 0.5 MW/m^3 -- 40 times worse than a PWR.

The low power density is devastating to the economic case for fusion. Magnetic fusion reactors will be complex, expensive things, with superconducting magnets, complex cooling systems, breeding blankets, heating and control systems. They will be much more expensive per unit mass or volume than a simple PWR reactor vessel. And much of that complex system will need to be periodically replaced due to neutron damage. If the power density is 40x worse they cannot possibly compete.

Yes, (SP)ARC is better than ITER. But ITER is so horribly bad that a reactor can be an order of magnitude better and still not have any real chance of competing.

There batteries, nuclear, gas and so on will compete.

> High capital cost systems, like what fusion reactors will be

That is not necessary true. Look at aneutronic fusion for example.

> What advantages are those? Fusion has inherent DISadvantages that are fundamental, most importantly low volumetric power density compared to fission reactors.

I was talking about advances in the theocratic understanding of plamsa and how fusion happens.

Assume that energy users do not learn to cope with just renewables. In that case CO₂ emissions go as at present, ie. the CO₂ content in the atmosphere increases by about 2.25ppm/year. In 2050 that works out to about 500ppm and in 2100 to 600ppm (these are conservativish numbers, since they assume that the 2.25ppm/year stays flat while in reality it has been increasing steadily).

ITER is not thought to lead all the way to fusion power; at least one more round of experiments is required afterwards. The Wikipedia page mentions 2035, so assuming that the next round also takes 20 years and only one more round is necessary, the first actual fusion reactors could start construction around 2055, and large amounts of fusion power could perhaps be available around 2075 or 2095, when CO₂ content is 550-600ppm. This is absurdly high, therefore the assumption is untenable.

Learn or die.