4 ms·

U.S. to announce major breakthrough in zero-carbon nuclear fusion energy

208 points by birriel 4y ago

nulld3v 4y ago
From the article: > The Financial Times reported Sunday that scientists in the California-based Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) had achieved a "net energy gain" from an experimental fusion reactor.
everfrustrated 4y ago
FT reported yesterday that there's been a breakthrough on Fusion - first time more energy out than used in powering it up (net gain). https://www.ft.com/content/4b6f0fab-66ef-4e33-adec-cfc345589dc7 https://www.ft.com/content/4b6f0fab-66ef-4e33-adec-cfc345589... I presume there's still some embargo on the press release? Possibly much more news to follow. [edit: announcement coming Tuesday]
- czottmann 4y ago
  Possibly paywalled, here's the archived link: https://archive.vn/szeNj https://archive.vn/szeNj
dang 4y ago
(Edit: this story has proven impossible to wait for because it was leaked and is being widely reported, so I guess we'll merge this thread into https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33945863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33945863 - that seems to be the 'original source' of at least the current wave.) This is a dupe of an announcement of an announcement: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33950289 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33950289 Announcements of announcements are off topic on HN since we can discuss the actual announcement when it happens, and that's when specific information will be there to discuss. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=%22announcement%20of%20an%20announcement%22 https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...
- class4behavior 4y ago
  The twitter thread linked to in the comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33955793 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33955793 has all the concrete info of what happened, especially the last link in said thread, so you could just edit the submission.
  - dang 4y ago
    Ok, I've added that to the current thread at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33945863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33945863. Thanks!
- pmayrgundter 4y ago
  This does happen all the time tho. Maybe HN should implement thread merging? A couple ideas.. A story could be merged by closing comments and setting an HTTP redirect, with some sort of notification on the landing page you've been redirected. There's some utility to having a new batch of comments a few days later, so maybe alternatively, maybe have a section between story header and comments with a dupe area like you comments, but structured in a regular way to make it easy to page through.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - dang 4y ago
    I wouldn't say it happens all the time, though no doubt there are cases we miss, since we don't see everything that gets posted.
    - pmayrgundter 4y ago
      Sorry yeah, I just notice it a lot. Maybe then a way for users to vote things as dupes. Just tryna help!
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
mbar84 4y ago
The question is, in terms of energy input, are we talking about Q-total or Q-plasma? Based on the video by Sabine Hossenfelder, my guess would be, the announcement references Q-plasma. That would mean that the announcement is a motte-and-baily miscommunication, as it promises much more than people are lead to read into it. Motte: We got more energy out than we put in. Bailey: Oh, what we really meant is, more energy was produced, than was put into the plasma, though we didn't actually capture any energy and also, there was actually a great deal of energy also needed to run all the ancillary systems to keep the plasma confined. How close is nuclear fusion power? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ4W1g-6JiY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ4W1g-6JiY

208 points by birriel 4y ago

From the article: > The Financial Times reported Sunday that scientists in the California-based Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) had achieved a "net energy gain" from an experimental fusion reactor.

everfrustrated 4y ago

FT reported yesterday that there's been a breakthrough on Fusion - first time more energy out than used in powering it up (net gain). https://www.ft.com/content/4b6f0fab-66ef-4e33-adec-cfc345589dc7 https://www.ft.com/content/4b6f0fab-66ef-4e33-adec-cfc345589... I presume there's still some embargo on the press release? Possibly much more news to follow. [edit: announcement coming Tuesday]

czottmann 4y ago
Possibly paywalled, here's the archived link: https://archive.vn/szeNj https://archive.vn/szeNj

dang 4y ago

(Edit: this story has proven impossible to wait for because it was leaked and is being widely reported, so I guess we'll merge this thread into https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33945863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33945863 - that seems to be the 'original source' of at least the current wave.) This is a dupe of an announcement of an announcement: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33950289 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33950289 Announcements of announcements are off topic on HN since we can discuss the actual announcement when it happens, and that's when specific information will be there to discuss. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=%22announcement%20of%20an%20announcement%22 https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...

class4behavior 4y ago
The twitter thread linked to in the comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33955793 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33955793 has all the concrete info of what happened, especially the last link in said thread, so you could just edit the submission.
- dang 4y ago
  Ok, I've added that to the current thread at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33945863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33945863. Thanks!
pmayrgundter 4y ago
This does happen all the time tho. Maybe HN should implement thread merging? A couple ideas.. A story could be merged by closing comments and setting an HTTP redirect, with some sort of notification on the landing page you've been redirected. There's some utility to having a new batch of comments a few days later, so maybe alternatively, maybe have a section between story header and comments with a dupe area like you comments, but structured in a regular way to make it easy to page through.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- dang 4y ago
  I wouldn't say it happens all the time, though no doubt there are cases we miss, since we don't see everything that gets posted.
  - pmayrgundter 4y ago
    Sorry yeah, I just notice it a lot. Maybe then a way for users to vote things as dupes. Just tryna help!

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

mbar84 4y ago

The question is, in terms of energy input, are we talking about Q-total or Q-plasma? Based on the video by Sabine Hossenfelder, my guess would be, the announcement references Q-plasma. That would mean that the announcement is a motte-and-baily miscommunication, as it promises much more than people are lead to read into it. Motte: We got more energy out than we put in. Bailey: Oh, what we really meant is, more energy was produced, than was put into the plasma, though we didn't actually capture any energy and also, there was actually a great deal of energy also needed to run all the ancillary systems to keep the plasma confined. How close is nuclear fusion power? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ4W1g-6JiY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ4W1g-6JiY