Dr. Scott Hsu
Fusion Partner, Lowercarbon Capital. On 1 show, 1 appearance. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
scientistinvestorexecutiveLinkedIn ↗lowercarbon.com ↗
A plasma physicist with a Ph.D. from Princeton University, Hsu previously served as the Lead Fusion Coordinator for the U.S. Department of Energy and as an ARPA-E Program Director. At Lowercarbon Capital, he evaluates and supports venture investments in early-stage commercial fusion companies, connecting private capital, industry, and government policy.
1shows
1appearances
15statements
8resolved
7supported
1contradicted
88%fully supported
Everything Dr. Scott Hsu said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Hsu predicts someone will achieve fusion scientific breakeven during the 2020s
“If I were a betting person, I would say yes. I think somebody will achieve scientific break-even this decade, and possibly more than one.”
Hsu: New superconductors enable major fusion milestones at smaller, cheaper scales
“What took Something, say, the size of ITER to reach the next major milestone in fusion, people think can be done now with much smaller sized systems and much lower cost systems.”
Hsu: Scaling fusion gain beyond Q=1 risks encountering unstudied new physics
“So I would say going from .7 to one is is not a huge jump but going from one to 10, you, you're, or from, you know, one to a hundred in inertial fusion you're likely to encounter some new physics that, that haven't been studied yet, which makes it riskier.”
Hsu: Core plasma physics is a minor driver of total plant cost
“Even though you can optimize your fusion core and get to high gain, honestly, at the end of the day, those things are a smaller driver of the ultimate total cost.”
Hsu: A single train car of fusion fuel could power the US
“Yeah, so the example I like to look at is one train car of fusion fuel, and that's like a little over a hundred tons. Imagine a train car of coal, for example, But if it was a train car of deuterium, tritium fuel that would provide enough energy for the U.S.'s…”
Hsu: Nuclear fusion produces no fissile material and needs no geological storage
“There is some waste, but it's short-lived waste, radioactive waste and there's no fissile fuel, which is another concern. But for sure, you also don't need geological storage of the waste.”
Hsu predicts the ITER fusion project will achieve first plasma by 2026
“First plasma on Eater is expected in, hopefully, within a few years, twenty-twenty-five, twenty-twenty-six timeframe.”
Hsu: NIF's 2021 record shot achieved 70 percent fusion energy output
“Many people probably have heard of the record shot on the National Ignition Facility just earlier this year. And surprising, well not surprisingly, coincidentally, it also achieved about 70% compared to the laser energy. So it produced fusion energy about 70% …”
Hsu: Inefficient laser heating puts inertial fusion further from wall-plug gain
“Even though they, they're both at the point of 70% of the input energy, the efficiency of tokamak heating is much higher than the efficiency of the laser. So you have a longer ways to go to get true wall plug gain, which is ultimately what you need.”
Hsu: Wall-plug gain is commercial nuclear fusion's true Kitty Hawk milestone
“My personal opinion is that wall plug gain It's kind of like the Kitty Hawk moment, right? Or the Wright brothers moment that people like to allude to. Because it really shows it, that this is re it's really an existence proof now, right? That not only can you…”
Hsu: Deuterium-tritium fusion plants cannot ramp instantaneously due to thermal inertia
“So, it won't be infinitely rampable because there's thermal mass involved. So, assuming that you're doing deuterium-tritium fusion where you're capturing most of the energy from the neutrons and generating heat, then that means you have a thermal mass of heat …”
Hsu: Fusion triple product grew five orders of magnitude across twenty years
“From the Seventies until the nineties, 20 years that triple product metric increased by five orders of magnitude, and people like to compare that with Moore's law as an example”
Hsu: The UK's JET tokamak achieved 70 percent instantaneous fusion power
“The record is held by the JET device in the UK, which is, has achieved about 70%, but I think it's important to, again, clearly define that this is the fusion, instantaneous fusion power is, has been about 70% of the heating power at that moment.”
Hsu: Capital costs will drive 65 percent of fusion's levelized electricity cost
“In fact, the particular ARPA-E funded study showed that maybe 65% of the LCOE might be coming from capital cost.”
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Dr.'s full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 CATALYSTLEDGER | Fusion Partner, Lowercarbon Capital | 1 | 15 | 88% 7/8 | full record on Catalyst → |