this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2025
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China's 'artificial sun' shatters nuclear fusion record by generating steady loop of plasma for 1,000 seconds (www.livescience.com)
submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 hours ago

a fusion power plant the size of Earth’s moon, with the same power density as the Sun, could only power around 1 million US homes.

Capital costs alone are prohibitive.

TIL/google ai:

The power density of the sun at its core is about 276.5 watts per cubic meter ((W/m^{3})). This is similar to the power density of a compost pile, but lower than the power density of an adult human's metabolism.

ok. wow. But solar energy reaching earth can be converted to electricity by commercial PV at 250w/m^2. Even in US installed at under $1/watt with 50 years of useful output, and under 2c/kwh unamortized energy costs. That seems like the actual bar to pass, which is impossible for fusion or fission.