Possible net energy fusion reportedly achieved by US scientists

[Thunder Good-Oil]

 

[VolStrom]

What this guy is saying is that we've found a way to cure cancer, but it will take us 75 years to figure out how to implement the technology.

 

[NorthDallas40]

My bet would be that even if this was better than a break even thing, real sustainable electric power from a fusion source will still be 30 years in the future ... and in 30 years, still another 30 years. I walked around and in Tokamaks at Princeton and Sandia over 30 years ago.

The first three issues for scaling and feasibility for general use are, in order

1. Containment
2. Containment
3. Containment

 

[AM64]

The first three issues for scaling and feasibility for general use are, in order

1. Containment
2. Containment
3. Containment

The other is transformation from the plasma (or whatever term they use) to power generation - and it has to be sustained not just a burst. Do you heat water to steam to generate the same way fossil and nuclear plants do - or do they have another process in mind. I think they are a long way from harnessing fusion power even when containment and sustained ignition are figured out. It's not my field - maybe some of those issues have been addressed, but I haven't seen them - and I haven't gone looking.

 

[NorthDallas40]

The other is transformation from the plasma (or whatever term they use) to power generation - and it has to be sustained not just a burst. Do you heat water to steam to generate the same way fossil and nuclear plants do - or do they have another process in mind. I think they are a long way from harnessing fusion power even when containment and sustained ignition are figured out. It's not my field - maybe some of those issues have been addressed, but I haven't seen them - and I haven't gone looking.

Yep. The sun makes ridiculous amounts of energy which make their way to us as photons. That isn’t a very useful form in and of itself to say drive an electric motor. Solar on homes use photovoltaic cells to translate photons to electrons IE electricity in the form of a DC voltage output. But we would be morons to put solar panels around our Mr Fusion portable reactor to create electricity

 

[lawgator1]

These are all hurdles but the first step in this process, of securing a net energy gain, was doubtless the hardest part. And the rapidity with which technology seems to outpace our expectations, heck, wouldn't surprise me if we were building a power plant based on this inside of five years.

 

[NorthDallas40]

These are all hurdles but the first step in this process, of securing a net energy gain, was doubtless the hardest part. And the rapidity with which technology seems to outpace our expectations, heck, wouldn't surprise me if we were building a power plant based on this inside of five years.

I’d take that bet for whatever form of capital you want to use. Mainstream fusion power is still a long ways away.

 

[lawgator1]

I’d take that bet for whatever form of capital you want to use. Mainstream fusion power is still a long ways away.

If I'd have told you in 1995 that within 20 years we'd have devices in our pockets with which we could both answer calls and access amounts of information so vast as to be unimaginably huge, that we'd be sending rockets up and having them come back so we can use them again, you'd have said the same thing.

And the way tech advances now in leaps and bounds .... we'll see.

 

[0nelilreb]

Huge news. This has been a long time coming.

Who will denounce it as part of the woke agenda first? Typical lib anti-individualist crap, trying to bring us all together and combine us.

If I had to guess the first will be some crackhead progressive group that tries to link it to climate change or some environmental save the frogs , trees , dirt , or clouds campaign . We all know this is more likely to happen .

 

[NorthDallas40]

If I'd have told you in 1995 that within 20 years we'd have devices in our pockets with which we could both answer calls and access amounts of information so vast as to be unimaginably huge, that we'd be sending rockets up and having them come back so we can use them again, you'd have said the same thing.

And the way tech advances now in leaps and bounds .... we'll see.

Nope I’d have said that was possible. Moore’s Law enabled the miniaturization of the required compute power.

To make fusion power available to the masses we literally have to find a way to emulate the gravitational forces of the sun for containment. Then as am64 said we’ve got to find a way to translate an unusable energy form into a usable one.

 

[Velo Vol]