U.S. to announce fusion energy 'breakthrough' Scientists hit a key milestone in the quest to

[applegrove]

U.S. to announce fusion energy ‘breakthrough’
Scientists hit a key milestone in the quest to create abundant zero-carbon power through nuclear fusion. But they still have a long way to go.

By Evan Halper and Pranshu Verma
December 11, 2022 at 9:29 p.m. EST

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/11/fusion-nuclear-energy-breakthrough/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert

"SNIP........

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.

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“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.

.........SNIP"

[Pantagruel]

1. I don't think it's new.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/ake8n5/government-scientists-approaching-what-is-required-for-fusion-in-breakthrough-energy-researchhttps://www.vice.com/en/article/ake8n5/government-scientists-approaching-what-is-required-for-fusion-in-breakthrough-energy-research

[Pantagruel]

2. Better link?

https://www.vice.com/en/article/ake8n5/government-scientists-approaching-what-is-required-for-fusion-in-breakthrough-energy-research

[applegrove]

3. I don't link to vice but you leave yours up.

[FakeNoose]

4. The oil and gas industry will FINALLY loosen its death-grip on our economy

They've been fighting this all along ...

[hunter]

6. The fossil fuel industry is thriving.

False hopes like this are one of the reasons.

If we truly want to quit fossil fuels we have to do it using the technology we have now, not the technology we hope to have in the future.

Wishing for things doesn't make them so.

It's quite possible that practical fusion power plants can't be built.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't try, but we shouldn't bet the ecosystem and our civilization on it.

[Arthur_Frain]

5. I'm torn.

I love this idea.

I’ve read enough dark science fiction to ask the question, “What happens when your experiments go awry and you create a black hole that eats its way through the core of the earth?”

I trust unregulated science about as much as I trust unregulated industry.

The big sci-fi advance I’m waiting for is battery replacement. Some sort of storage medium for power/memory based on a new analog that uses hydrogen as a storage medium or returns purified water as a by product. Come on, it’s time for some of my utopian ideals to come true!

[Polybius]

7. So what does this mean?

Will cars go 20 years with a fusion charge in 2080?