Science

longship

(40,416 posts)

4. It's a good start, but there are still huge hurdles to cross.

Mon Oct 7, 2013, 06:42 PM

Oct 2013

The NIF is a huge lab, a one off. And even it doesn't have the capability to build a fusion power plant. The main reason is because it cannot fire its massive LASERs fast enough for practical and useful energy production.

Then, there are the economic issues. The promise of fusion power has always been sold as safe and cheap -- power too cheap to meter. Okay! We all know that's a bit of hyperbole. But the manufacturing of the fuel pellets has to be easy and cheap to make this kind of thing practical, if not possible.

Still, this is a big and necessary first step.

Good for Lawrence Livermore Lab.

R&K

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Nuclear fusion milestone passed at US lab [View all] n2doc Oct 2013 OP

Great news johnd83 Oct 2013 #1

Yep. Warren DeMontague Oct 2013 #2

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It's a good start, but there are still huge hurdles to cross. longship Oct 2013 #4

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