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cyberaxyesterday at 4:31 PM3 repliesview on HN

Fusion power plants can't "melt down". The amount of plasma inside the vacuum chamber is just around a gram.


Replies

adrianmonkyesterday at 6:49 PM

That's the joke, isn't it?

A fission power plant simulator lets you have fun playing through a meltdown disaster scenario. A fusion power plant simulator is "worse" because it takes away the "fun" of meltdowns. The humor is in reacting to the simulator as if it were a game (some are, but this one isn't).

PunchyHamsteryesterday at 6:43 PM

Might not be similar to nuclear meltdown but still enough to need a lot of money to fix

JumpCrisscrossyesterday at 4:55 PM

> Fusion power plants can't "melt down"

Eh, a core-containment failure (in any magnetically-contained system) would involve superheated hydrogen getting friendly with oxygen. That, in turn, would give neutron-impregnated barrier materials a free ride on propellant. It's not strictly a melt down. But it's in the same practical category of failure.

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