[u320]

> "Overnight, it basically changed the cost per watt of a fusion reactor by a factor of almost 40 in one day,"

So there is this myth that fusion enables unlimited cheap energy. This is 100% false. It's not unlimited at all. Most concepts relies on using lithium-6. That's not a super common element.

But more importantly, it's not cheap. That should be obvious, if you could reduce the cost per watt 40x and still not be competitive.

[ianburrell]

Lithium is a super common element. They are mining tens of thousands of tons per year increasing rapidly as make electric car batteries. Lithium-6 is 5% of lithium. Fusion reactors only need tons for breeding blanket.

[pfdietz]

The original ARC design had 950 tonnes of FLiBe, which contains 115 tonnes of Li-6. This is a substantial fraction of the Li-6 produced for the entire US hydrogen bomb program, all for a single 190 MW(e) (net) reactor.