3 ms·
They put 2.05 MJ in and got 3.15 MJ out. The 300MJ comes from equipment inefficiency- remember this is a research facility to prove plasma physics and ignition
by carabiner 4y ago
They put 2.05 MJ in and got 3.15 MJ out. The 300MJ comes from equipment inefficiency- remember this is a research facility to prove plasma physics and ignition itself, mainly designed for weapons research. The fact they got definite fusion at 1.53x input energy is not just breakeven, but net gain. This is the first time ever we've gotten net gain, in any fusion device. A lot of people in gov leadership thought fusion was impossible, the fact they can said they did it, despite 1980s era technology and a shoestring budget for decades, really says something.
ICF is just one fusion technology, and probably not the best one, but fusion in general will probably see a massive budget increase worldwide now that it's been proven it can be done.
I fully expect a working fusion plant of some kind by 2030, assuming funding increases. Once we get them commercialized; coal, wind, solar and other power production will be obsolete for the most part. We can also use fusion heat to separate waste into it's base elements (you can recycle anything!), and help make any process needing a lot of thermal or electrical energy more efficient.
- arbitrandomuser 4y ago
- pauljurczak 4y ago> I fully expect a working fusion plant of some kind by 2030 Right. The first law of fusion physics: working fusion power generation in 10 years. It has been proven true for the last 7 decades. Rock solid.
- Valakas_ 4y agoAt some point, people will still be predicting fusion in the next 10 years, and then it will happen in the next.
- bratbag 4y agoThe joke used to be fusion was always 30 years away. Then the joke was it was always 20 years away. Now the joke is it's always 10 years away. People paying attention over this time have noticed it getting closer as we improve our capabilities. The next iteration of the joke will be 'fusion was always inevitable'
- bearmode 4y agoRegular fission plants take 5+ years to construct. So in the next 2-3 years you're expecting this technology to become mature enough to roll out and hook up to the power grid?
- ag315 4y agoBy 2030? Lol. Lmao, even. 2050 if we're lucky--we're still not even close to developing a reactor that can produce meaningful amounts of power for a sustained period. It'll take decades more to get to that point, and once all the technical limitations have been crossed and we figure out how to get enough tritium, the actual hard work begins of getting it online and integrated with our current system. Fusion is distant future technology.