What it says on the box. Discuss!
What if the USSR invents Fusion?
- Thread starter Vadrigos
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- What if? Sci-Fi Post-1900
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So this is a spin on a prior idea of mine, which I just wanted to get a read on because I have low self-esteem like feedback.
The Chernobyl NPP is never built; instead, a prototype fusion torus is constructed in its place, to test the visionary concepts of a group of scientists who happen to have knowledge, or at least ideas, far in advance of their time period.
On the day in OTL that the Chernobyl accident occurred, this fusion torus is successfully activated and begins producing an average of 13968 MHw (about as much as a modern nuclear power plant). The design is hampered because it uses deuterium instead of helium-3, meaning eventually the infrastructure will be rendered radioactive. However, to counter this effect, the scientists have simultaneously developed a compound that will come to be known as "radgel", a viscious compound that attracts and encapsulates dangerous nuclear byproducts. It cannot be produced in huge quantities, at least at first, and works primarily against the byproducts produced by the fusion process itself, but it allows for the extension of a fusion reactor's lifespan by up to 100 years. The biggest drawback of this design is that while the scientists are able the get it working, and account for its shortcomings, they have no idea how to miniaturize it, making it impossible to fit into anything smaller than a complex the size of the Chernobyl NPP.
How does the world react? What effect, if any, does this have on the world economy and geopolitics? Vague answers are acceptable as I realize this is a rather vague proposal.
The Chernobyl NPP is never built; instead, a prototype fusion torus is constructed in its place, to test the visionary concepts of a group of scientists who happen to have knowledge, or at least ideas, far in advance of their time period.
On the day in OTL that the Chernobyl accident occurred, this fusion torus is successfully activated and begins producing an average of 13968 MHw (about as much as a modern nuclear power plant). The design is hampered because it uses deuterium instead of helium-3, meaning eventually the infrastructure will be rendered radioactive. However, to counter this effect, the scientists have simultaneously developed a compound that will come to be known as "radgel", a viscious compound that attracts and encapsulates dangerous nuclear byproducts. It cannot be produced in huge quantities, at least at first, and works primarily against the byproducts produced by the fusion process itself, but it allows for the extension of a fusion reactor's lifespan by up to 100 years. The biggest drawback of this design is that while the scientists are able the get it working, and account for its shortcomings, they have no idea how to miniaturize it, making it impossible to fit into anything smaller than a complex the size of the Chernobyl NPP.
How does the world react? What effect, if any, does this have on the world economy and geopolitics? Vague answers are acceptable as I realize this is a rather vague proposal.