> but from just nuclear fusion pov net energy gain is a significant milestone in itself. Didn't we get to that milestone when they detonated a fusion-based bom

> but from just nuclear fusion pov net energy gain is a significant milestone in itself. Didn't we get to that milestone when they detonated a fusion-based bomb back in 1952? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Mike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Mike Anyway, I'm not sure it's a significant milestone. It's just a number along a scale. If you were to tell me they've achieved a _sustained_ reaction which yields more energy than goes into it, for a period of, say, a day or so - then you could claim a significant milestone has been reached. And even with that, some people argue that given how there's basically no sustainable source of tritium for large-scale electricity generation, the whole exercise is pointless unless the process uses other combinations of elements.