Posted on 12/11/2022 7:52:58 PM PST by Coronal
The Department of Energy plans to announce Tuesday that scientists have been able for the first time to produce a fusion reaction that creates a net energy gain — a major milestone in the decades-long, multibillion dollar quest to develop a technology that provides unlimited, cheap, clean power.
The aim of fusion research is to replicate the nuclear reaction through which energy is created on the sun. It is a “holy grail” of carbon-free power that scientists have been chasing since the 1950s. It is still at least a decade — maybe decades — away from commercial use, but the latest development is likely to be touted by the Biden administration as an affirmation of a massive investment by the government over the years.
Huge amounts of public and private funds have been funneled into the fusion race worldwide, with the aim of ultimately manufacturing fusion machinery that could bring electricity to the grid with no carbon footprint, no radioactive waste and far fewer resources than it takes to harness solar and wind power. Beyond the climate benefits, promoters say it could help bring cheap electricity to impoverished parts of the world.
“To most of us, this was only a matter of time,” said a senior fusion scientist familiar with the work of the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, where the discovery was made.
The development was first reported by the Financial Times on Sunday. It was confirmed by two people familiar with the research, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid getting ahead of the official announcement. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was slated make the announcement Tuesday at a media event billed as the unveiling of “a major scientific breakthrough.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
That is both true and completely irrelevant.
Fusion was thirty years away in the 1980s when I was in grad school ...
Fusion was thirty years away in the 1960s when I was in............nevermind......................😉
They keep saying that.
Diapers?
Which will happen first?
1. US Men’s Soccer Team wins the World Cup
2. Fusion reactors begin to power the electric grid
Nope!.....Older!...............
Point being we were able to do something rather complex very quickly because we could. Not sure we have that kind of ability any longer.
Upthread, when I referred to grad school ... my field of study was Applied Physics. Just to put my remarks in context.
Nuclear fusion is a thoroughly different phenomenon from nuclear fission.
Do me a favor:
Name one chemical element that without extreme conditions or human interference undergoes nuclear fission all by itself.
Name one chemical element (or combination thereof) that without extreme conditions or human interference undergoes nuclear fusion all by itself.
Did you know that the atomic bomb "Little Boy" was literally tested in Japan? The very first explosion of that particular type of atomic bomb (uranium gun) was a combat drop. A uranium gun type bomb is so simple even a cave-man can do it. Purifying the 235U is the hard part.
"We" (not me) have been working on controlled nuclear fusion for decades. the Tokamak was invented in the 1950s. The problem isn't getting hydrogen or deuterium atoms to fuse, the problems are getting the fusion reaction to sustain itself, and containing the extremely high energy plasma in which the fusion occurs. A future problem will be extracting usable energy from it, without quenching it.
I’m almost afraid to ask ...
I was a child of the 60’s, started HS in 69. Joined the Marines in 73...........
You’re less than a decade older than me.
. But I see you miss my point. No use in trying to explain it as you still don’t see it.
True, but I was raised in a politically aware household, and I remember Eisenhower being president and the Kennedy-Nixon Debate on TV in 1960......
I don’t miss your point.
I reject your “point”.
Your “point” is not supported by the current example. Exactly what do you think “we” should be doing differently, exactly how should “we” be working more industriously, in order to solve the problems I identified for you? Be specific.
I posed a couple of challenges to you in the previous post. Please address them. They’re relevant to this discussion.
In Post #3, you asked what “they” are building fusion devices out of. The answer is stainless steel, copper, fused silica, LASERs, reinforced concrete and a whole lot of electronics. Among other things. All of the above in multi-ton quantities and built into a very difficult to machine and assemble device. It ain’t cheap.
You seem to be under the mistaken belief that solving one difficult problem “easily” (there was nothing easy about the Manhattan Engineering District) necessarily implies the ability to solve a seemingly similar problem “easily”.
Midas World ... read it.
I probably remember Apollo 11 and Watergate (and the feeling that Watergate was a ‘Rat scam) the way you remember Kennedy/Nixon.
We had a TV and a neighbor came over to watch!...........😉
Dad bought our first TV so we could watch Apollo.
As I calculated. You miss the point. If you’re academics are as you claim you’re educated beyond common sense. You’re one who can’t see the forest for the trees. Dealt with that mentality in undergrad and grad school.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.