Perhaps another step on the road to fusion, all the experiments are helping to get there. The more data that is gathered about fusion and near-fusion conditions, the faster all the teams involved can move forward.
Excuse my ignorance on the topic, but don't current fusion solutions already make significant use of magnets to control the plasma? What is the breakthough here?
A tokamak uses a very strong magnetic field to try to contain an ongoing fusion reaction. The National Ignition Facility instead fires a bunch of lasers at a pellet of fuel to heat and compress it to cause fusion - the idea being that it would cause fusion within one pellet at a time rather than a sustained fusion reaction like in a tokamak.
Maybe it actually was a decade away in 2012, maybe it'll be a decade away in 2032. Who knows? But if it's technologically feasible it'll happen at some point.
ITER will be a legit fully functional fusion reactor once it is built. Shit is mad expensive and complicated to build though. It will take another few decades after ITER to get anything cheap enough to be commercially viable. People that were saying it was 10 years away were talking about just showing that it can be done at all, not actually having it impact our lives in any way.
So I am going to start posting on all fusion posts. First nuclear power is carbon free and has more than 50 years of development. Fusion has only theories and no working prototypes that produce usable energy. Additionally Fusion power is still going to produce radiation in high levels and a weapon made from Fusion technology will probably far more destructive that nuclear which is saying something. Finally replacing the hot rock is not going to change anything energy wise because all power generation revolves around spinning a magnet while it is surrounded by copper wires(with a few exceptions). This means that nuclear Fusion is inferior to nuclear fission and even once Fusion is usable it will contain more dangers than fission.
Funny how this article was published same day it was reported ITER has cracks and will need more time and money to produce first plasma. Gotta keep the research money going, after all, fusion is only 30 years away.
There is a huge step between working fusion (i.e. net positive energy) and commercially viable fusion. We currently have neither, and working fusion has been "only a decade away" for 50 years.
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According to the Iron Law of Headlines, any headline with the word "breakthrough" in it is exaggerated hype
OnLy TwEnTy YeArS aWaY
Perhaps another step on the road to fusion, all the experiments are helping to get there. The more data that is gathered about fusion and near-fusion conditions, the faster all the teams involved can move forward.
Excuse my ignorance on the topic, but don't current fusion solutions already make significant use of magnets to control the plasma? What is the breakthough here?
A tokamak uses a very strong magnetic field to try to contain an ongoing fusion reaction. The National Ignition Facility instead fires a bunch of lasers at a pellet of fuel to heat and compress it to cause fusion - the idea being that it would cause fusion within one pellet at a time rather than a sustained fusion reaction like in a tokamak.
Same question - wtf is a Tokamak then??
Though somehow when humans have unlimited energy, we’ll still have to pay someone to use it :(
the energy may be plentiful, but someone still has to put up power lines
Still costs money to make it. Seems reasonable that cost should be tied to usage.
Even if the government were to do it, you'd still have to pay.
These NIF experiments are a dead end. I think either commonwealth fusion or helion will be the first to demonstrate net energy gain with fusion.
Is it only a decade away? Causes it’s been a decade away for 30 years
Unless something drastically changes, they're incredibly close
Maybe it actually was a decade away in 2012, maybe it'll be a decade away in 2032. Who knows? But if it's technologically feasible it'll happen at some point.
If we had provided any reasonable level of funding for Fusion research those estimates might have held.
ITER will be a legit fully functional fusion reactor once it is built. Shit is mad expensive and complicated to build though. It will take another few decades after ITER to get anything cheap enough to be commercially viable. People that were saying it was 10 years away were talking about just showing that it can be done at all, not actually having it impact our lives in any way.
We are approaching profitability amoungst our conglomerate partners to sell this off and so what if that's after the tipping point?
I feel like I have seen the same headline every couple of years for the past 40 years.
It seems like a similar “viable fusion is almost here” headline is now every month or so
From the Article
omg! magnets! why didn't I think of that! It was that easy all along!
Practical nuclear fusion is always 30 years in the future ...
This exact comment is made every. Single. Time fusion comes up
idk, I've been seeing people say 20 and 10 more recently - it may be slower than real time, but that number's going down
Yup. Been that way for 30 years.
So I am going to start posting on all fusion posts. First nuclear power is carbon free and has more than 50 years of development. Fusion has only theories and no working prototypes that produce usable energy. Additionally Fusion power is still going to produce radiation in high levels and a weapon made from Fusion technology will probably far more destructive that nuclear which is saying something. Finally replacing the hot rock is not going to change anything energy wise because all power generation revolves around spinning a magnet while it is surrounded by copper wires(with a few exceptions). This means that nuclear Fusion is inferior to nuclear fission and even once Fusion is usable it will contain more dangers than fission.
You got a lot of topics off here.
Let’s see here looking up breakthrough in the fusion to english dictionary….
Sounds like we're ten years away.
Wasn’t the last breakthrough in Physics back in the 40’s?
Doesn't all fusion research approach what is required?
Funny how this article was published same day it was reported ITER has cracks and will need more time and money to produce first plasma. Gotta keep the research money going, after all, fusion is only 30 years away.
There is a huge step between working fusion (i.e. net positive energy) and commercially viable fusion. We currently have neither, and working fusion has been "only a decade away" for 50 years.
We got marginal net fusion this year.