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Tech bosses think nuclear fusion is the solution to AI’s energy demands – here’s what they’re missing. (theconversation.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by Dot@feddit.org to c/technology@lemmy.world

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nuclear power produces long-lived radioactive waste, which needs to be stored securely. Nuclear fuels, such as the element uranium (which needs to be mined), are finite, so the technology is not considered renewable. Renewable sources of energy, such as solar and wind power suffer from “intermittency”, meaning they do not consistently produce energy at all hours of the day.

fusion technologies have yet to produce sustained net energy output (more energy than is put in to run the reactor), let alone produce energy at the scale required to meet the growing demands of AI. Fusion will require many more technological developments before it can fulfil its promise of delivering power to the grid.

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[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You'll find that nuclear fission is not very different.

Nuclear submarines for example only need to be refueled once or twice in their multiple decade lifespan.

[–] mwguy@infosec.pub 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yes. They're both incredibly efficient.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

And if somehow, despite that efficiency, we still have problems figuring out how to store that nuclear waste today. I know this ought to be a solvable problem, but we seem to struggle with it.

[–] mwguy@infosec.pub 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Then we chuck it in that mountain we carved out.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Hey, I agree with you, the yuca mountain facility was literally built for that. And yet, even then there was enough nimby sentiment to prevent it from going into use. Just crazy.