this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2024
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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 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/technology
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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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[–] IchNichtenLichten 5 points 2 months ago (19 children)

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.

If only we had some way of storing energy for use later. Oh well.

[–] bizzle 8 points 2 months ago

Lithium batteries and their associated wastes and byproducts are an ecological catastrophe though in fairness

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