The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR) trashes fusion’s reputation. This post discusses how it can make amends. But is it accurate?
Take a look at the discussion of Fusion: http://www.fusionenergyleague.org/index.php/blog/article/batman_fusion_redemption#flub and the discussion of fission http://www.fusionenergyleague.org/index.php/blog/article/batman_fusion_redemption#play
Where I say,
“The industry settled on the Light Water Reactor precisely because it produces weapons-grade waste (plutonium). What most people are unaware of is that there are many nuclear reactor alternatives with far better energy and safety possibilities that were not developed precisely because they wouldn’t produce weapons-grade plutonium. “
Over on LinkedIn, I get the feedback that:
This is fusion-promotional fiction every bit as egregious as any of the pseudo-physics in the Batman movie. Once the Manhattan Project was done, the existence of that infrastructure (like the Oak Ridge gaseous diffusion enrichment facility, for one example among many) made the incremental cost of fueling a new nuclear fission electric power industry profoundly far cheaper than any other totally undeveloped fission fuel cycle option.
