A 'significant leap' in experiments at nuclear fusion project based at General Atomics

[TexasTowelie]

The energy potential for nuclear fusion has always been remarkably ambitious but progress has usually been painfully slow.

But researchers and collaborators working on the DIII-D National Fusion Facility based at San Diego’s General Atomics have completed a series of successful experiments with an approach called “Super-H Mode” that has improved performance so dramatically they think it will accelerate the development of nuclear fusion reactors that could result, in theory, in a virtually limitless source of clean, carbon-free energy.

“Fusion energy research historically advances with steady and marked improvements over time,” David Hill, director of DIII-D, said in a statement. “It is not often you see a significant leap in results like we have seen with Super-H Mode. This discovery has significant ramifications for future fusion energy plants, and we’re excited to see how far it will carry the field forward.”

The results were published this week in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s journal of nuclear fusion research.

Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/energy-green/story/2019-06-25/researchers-report-a-significant-leap-in-nuclear-fusion-experiments

Cross-posted in the Environment & Energy Group.

[PoliticAverse]

1. "that could result, in theory" - wake me when it results in reality.

Last edited Sat Jun 29, 2019, 04:42 AM - Edit history (1)

Fusion has been "10 years away" for at least the last 40 years.

[cstanleytech]

3. Yup, its like the Alcubierre drive as in theory it might allow us to truly explore distant star

systems but so far its all theory.

[safeinOhio]

2. Accelerating Returns

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerating_change
futures studies and the history of technology, accelerating change is a perceived increase in the rate of technological change throughout history, which may suggest faster and more profound change in the future and may or may not be accompanied by equally profound social and cultural change.




Kurzweil's The Law of Accelerating Returns[edit]
In his 1999 book The Age of Spiritual Machines, Ray Kurzweil proposed "The Law of Accelerating Returns", according to which the rate of change in a wide variety of evolutionary systems (including but not limited to the growth of technologies) tends to increase exponentially.[9] He gave further focus to this issue in a 2001 essay entitled "The Law of Accelerating Returns".[10] In it, Kurzweil, after Moravec, argued for extending Moore's Law to describe exponential growth of diverse forms of technological progress. Whenever a technology approaches some kind of a barrier, according to Kurzweil, a new technology will be invented to allow us to cross that barrier. He cites numerous past examples of this to substantiate his assertions. He predicts that such paradigm shifts have and will continue to become increasingly common, leading to "technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history." He believes the Law of Accelerating Returns implies that a technological singularity will occur before the end of the 21st century, around 2045. The essay begins:

Flying cars may be around the corner, or may be not.