Why fusion will never happen (2012)
This article is good in some ways and mistaken in others. Particularly, as a criticism of the ITER&#x2F;DEMO path to fusion, it is correct. That was never a viable path to commercial fusion.<p>The mistakes made, or else those allowed for but not predicted, listed without particular order,<p>* Not all fusion requires turbines. Eg. Helion&#x27;s designs don&#x27;t.<p>* Most if not all renewables require either energy storage, or much better energy transport, which must be factored into their price.<p>* The size of commercial magnetic confinement plants is not well represented by DEMO, given new high temperature superconductors.<p>* (Personal opinion) The cost of fission plants is mostly a consequence of regulation, and this dominates the financial aspect.<p>That said, the idea that fusion has extremely tough cost competition from solar and wind, and that it will get increasingly tougher over time, is (and has turned out to be) absolutely true.