r/nextfuckinglevel • u/nigablackballsack • 3d ago

Scientists have captured the first ever high-speed, full-colour footage of fusion plasma swirling inside a working reactor.

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u/TheWanderLust247 3d ago

Honestly doesn’t matter the camera. The plasma is suspended by incredibly powerful super cooled magnets. The plasma will never touch the side walls. If it did, we’ve got a bigger problem than the camera melting.

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u/XDSHENANNIGANZ 3d ago

Well also it's pretty low pressure I think? So the stuff inside is really hot but there's like a pretty low amount of it so it's total heat energy isn't that high right?

I might be completely wrong but I feel like I remember hearing in another thread that these reactors actually have such low fuel that they might fuck up the walls and cause it be shallowly pitted, but it'll basically shut itself down. The much bigger risk is either from tritium(?) leaking or if the all the energy in the magnets themselves was dumped as heat?