Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory announced what they said was a major milestone in reproducing the power of the sun in a laboratory.
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory announced what they said was a major milestone in reproducing the power of the sun in a laboratory.
So, that's nice.
Wish they'd chosen a better newspaper to replicate.
So they've proved Fusion as a technology (more energy out than in) but they need to turn that into electricity. It is magnificent, but decades away from being useful - according to Dr Kim Goodell director of LLNL.
So they've proved Fusion as a technology (more energy out than in) but they need to turn that into electricity. It is magnificent, but decades away from being useful - according to Dr Kim Goodell director of LLNL.
As they've been saying for years - nuclear fusion is 20 years away and always will be.
So they've proved Fusion as a technology (more energy out than in) but they need to turn that into electricity. It is magnificent, but decades away from being useful - according to Dr Kim Goodell director of LLNL.
Use energy to heat water that then turns to steam that turns a generator? Ie how all power stations work? I’m guessing (haven’t watched the video as at work) that the amount of energy was tiny.
So they've proved Fusion as a technology (more energy out than in) but they need to turn that into electricity. It is magnificent, but decades away from being useful - according to Dr Kim Goodell director of LLNL.
Use energy to heat water that then turns to steam that turns a generator? Ie how all power stations work? I’m guessing (haven’t watched the video as at work) that the amount of energy was tiny.
2.1MJ into 2.5MJ so about enough "profit" to boil a kettle.
The Wright Brothers' first flight was less than 50m and only lasted few seconds. This could be a similarly surfically unimpressive first result that quickly turns into a world changing technology.
I remember watching Tomorrow's World 40 years ago, when there would be articles about Nuclear Fusion!
The idea was first mooted 60 years ago when lasers were invented. It's taken from then to get to this point. The technology is way beyond my comprehension but it is obviously a very major breakthrough. Dr Goodall on the video suggests it wont take another 60 or even 50 years to progress to a commercial use.
Nuclear fusion has been around for 70 years. It is called a Thermonuclear (Hydrogen) Bomb. The only problem is that it needs a small fission explosion (created by an atomic warhead) to create the necessary temperature and pressure to start the fusion process, and therin lies the challenge..
If sustained fusion is achieved there are still many problems to solve. For example how do you accesses the heat being generated with out for example hindering fusion which is occurring at tens of millions of Celsius. At these temps any thing that comes into contact with plasma is destroyed. Then there is the processes of neutron degradation of the surrounding structures , how long a time before the materials have to be replaced. There are many other engineering issues that will take decades to solve.
It seems the most important thing is this was something people thought was possible, but now they know it is. That means they wil pursue until they perfect and that may take a while but it could ultimately save the planet.
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