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Nuclear fusion reactor in South Korea runs at 100 million degrees C for a record-breaking 48 seconds (www.livescience.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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48 seconds. I predict a glut of helium. balloons for everyone

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Fusion uses hydrogen and produces helium

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

They use liquid helium to cool the super magnets...

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago

Sure, but they don't consume it, and let it just boil off. They have massive refrigerant setups to bring it down to temp and keep it there.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Sure, but why does that mean they must be losing the helium each time? I don't know anything about liquid helium and super conductors, but I know I don't need to replace my radiator fluid just because it cooled my engine.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Once used, it need to be cooled down to -252c to be reused. Not like a closed loop of oil

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Alright, did some research, first off you're wrong about this being the reason even if this was a plausible reason. The real reason is the ash and heat divertors failed.

Second, you don't even need liquid helium for super conduction. Here's a few closed loop helium gas coolers that get to 10 kelvin. They need to be refilled on the scale of years, not from a single test.

https://www.arscryo.com/closed-cycle-cryocoolers https://stirlingcryogenics.com/products/closed-loop-helium-gas-cooling-system/

I get you care deeply about helium loss but this is the last thing you should be accidentally spreading misinformation about. This process literally creates more helium then it uses.