Nuclear scientists hail US fusion breakthrough

[turbinetree]

By Agence France-Presse
Published August 18, 2021

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Nuclear scientists using lasers the size of three football fields said Tuesday they had generated a huge amount of energy from fusion, possibly offering hope for the development of a new clean energy source.

Experts focused their giant array of almost 200 laser beams onto a tiny spot to create a mega blast of energy -- eight times more than they had ever done in the past.

Although the energy only lasted for a very short time -- just 100 trillionths of a second -- it took scientists closer to the holy grail of fusion ignition, the moment when they are creating more energy than they are using.

https://www.rawstory.com/nuclear-scientists-hail-us-fusion-breakthrough-2654704216/

Well Iter is about 78% complete....

[Champp]

1. What could possibly go wrong?

[Happy Hoosier]

4. Errr... nothing.

I mean, an electrical fire, maybe?

This is not a fission chain reaction. Probably you should learn about what fusion is before raising the panic banner.

[Champp]

13. You think munching popcorn is panic?

[Happy Hoosier]

15. What do you expect to happen?

You seem to think some catastrophic might occur?

[Champp]

18. The usual.

[DrToast]

2. We'll get clean, cheap energy when it's too late

Still, it’s very exciting to hear about all these advances in fusion.

[ansible]

6. Reminds me of the Fallout game's backstory

By the time the US finally solves the energy crisis when oil ran out in 2077 and fusion power is developed, it's too late as WW3 starts.

[lagomorph777]

3. "Well Iter is about 78% complete.." - Just a few more ITERations...

I don't know whether anybody's noticed there's a giant fusion generator in the sky, raining free photons down on us all day long...?

[Hugin]

9. I'm not sure they could mount that thing on a De Lorean.

The real key is the Flux Capacitor.

[Demovictory9]

5. interesting.

[edhopper]

7. In the 70s

Last edited Wed Aug 18, 2021, 03:14 PM - Edit history (2)

at college I took an introductory course on Nuclear Science. At that time we were 10 years away from a working fusion reactor. 50 years later we are still 10 years away.

[Johnny2X2X]

10. What grade did you earn?

Because we've had fission reactors since the 1940s.

[edhopper]

19. Crap!

What a stupid typo.

Fixed.

[Baitball Blogger]

8. "Nuclear scientists using lasers the size of three football fields"

Like using a grenade launcher to kill a mosquito.

I know, I know. It's just the beginning. I just couldn't resist the visual.

[hedda_foil]

11. I'm not gonna hold my breath until we have a Mr. Fusion in every home.

[Champp]

14. It's OK to exhale

[Silent3]

12. Just 20-30 more "huge breakthroughs" and maybe it'll be a viable power source

Don't get me wrong, I'm really hoping for success in harnessing fusion energy.

But I've been hearing about "huge breakthroughs" for a few decades now, so I'm getting a bit cynical.

[zipplewrath]

16. Cut them some slack

In order to get new funding, these efforts have to declare "breakthroughs" at the end of every funding cycle. The non-critical press tends to take them at their word and just print what is effectively a press release. Progress is being made, but yeah, we're probably still 50 years from anything productive.

[Disaffected]

17. Your cynicism is justified.

ITER will likely reach break-even but it is still a long way from a commercially viable reactor i.e. a fusion reactor that will produce electricity at an affordable cost.

ITER will not even attempt to recover fusion energy - that will supposedly come later with "Demo" (and expenditure of many more billions).

As for laser fusion, that too has a very long road ahead if & when it ever becomes viable.

[Champp]

21. Yeah, Pet Rocks were also crashing as a "thing" right around then

maybe... Nihilism never looked so attractive, many people say.