I've always been somewhat partial to the stellarator design, I mean a big plasma donut is cool and all, but what if we twisted it around a whole bunch first!?
I think gravitational confinement is the way to go - it's the only operationally proven design!
Gotta think big!
You only need one at that point!
It has density issues though. If you had a piece of the sun the size of a huge power plant - like enormous, the power output would be too low to be useful.
Mandatory: We should build it in space and beam the electricity back to earth using electromagnetic waves. We could collect those using solar cells. And then get rid of the plant and use the sun instead.
Yes - exactly. No need for a Dyson sphere, or a man-made sun - just use the real sun and solar panels!
No, it's not the only proven design. The other is a hydrogen bomb. Google project PACER.
True - inertial confinement - also used by NIF (laser based). I guess I should have said continuous operation, although I do like the simplicity of Helion's system.