Quote Originally Posted by Tev View Post
And how exactly are we going to get "cheap" fusion? You know that uranium for reactors is quite cheap already? It's the reactor and building around it what's so expensive. I don't get why is everyone assuming fusion plants will be cheaper - you might not be needing so many safety measures, but because of more intense neutron bombardement you'll either will replace parts in the reactor often or it will have short (relatively to fission) working life. And all those superconductors cooled with helium are crazy expensive . . . You just can't overlook context. It's similar to dreaming about renewable energy - sunlight and wind are free, right? So making electricity from it will be also cheap!
Wrong.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think fusion'd have a higher power output than fission, making each MW produced cheaper. This'd also be why solar and wind are more expensive, lower outputs and inconsistencies in production.