Scientists achieve major advance in....

[kadee79]

Fusion Energy that could provide clean, carbon-free energy....

California scientists have achieved a major advance in fusion energy, a technology that could potentially provide clean, carbon-free power in years to come, the Department of Energy announced Tuesday.



The breakthrough was made Dec. 5 at 1:00 am at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility, 50 miles east of San Francisco. The work uses giant lasers to create heat and pressure close to that found in the sun, enough to drive atoms together, releasing tremendous energy.



The advance described Tuesday was that researchers have been able to create more energy in the process than they put into it, what's known as "ignition." In a news conference, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm described it as a "fusion breakthrough" that "will go down in the history books."



"It's a scientific milestone," said Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. "It's also an engineering marvel beyond belief."

www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/scientists-achieve-major-advance-in-fusion-energy-that-could-provide-clean-carbon-free-power/ar-AA15eaRn?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=51fc664b3e2b44349d588e6e4449cca2

[djAdvocate]

yeah.  containment has always been the issue.  i am really happy they are still working on this.

[happyhoix]

I remember scientists saying this wasn’t possible. Glad it is!!!

[thyme4change]

My son (an engineering student) read all about this and he seemed quite stoked.

[saveinla]

The problem is to now replicate it multiple times to make sure it works again.

[happyhoix]

Dec 14, 2022 16:23:55 GMT -5 saveinla said:

The problem is to now replicate it multiple times to make sure it works again.

That plus figuring out how to safely sustain it. I think the event lasted only a few seconds.

[Tiny]

Dec 14, 2022 18:23:18 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Dec 14, 2022 16:23:55 GMT -5 saveinla said:

The problem is to now replicate it multiple times to make sure it works again.

That plus figuring out how to safely sustain it. I think the event lasted only a few seconds.

   I heard? or read?  that this was equivalent to lighting a match.   It will be years (maybe decades) before this advances to the point of being able to provide energy to power home(s) or a city.   

That doesn't mean it isn't cool (and a little scary).    


I saw an opera a long time ago  called Doctor Atomic -  about the Trinity Tests  and I think one of the songs the Chorus sang was about the fear of the atomic bomb sting the sky on fire.  That really stuck with me.  Nuclear power is so "meh" to me (the electricity that powers my house and everything around me comes from nuclear power)... that everyday people were afraid atomic testing and then the eventual bomb (or nuclear power plant)  would destroy the earth by creating a chain reaction of some sort was something new to me.  And scary.  

I wonder when the "conspiracy theories" and "fears" about fusion will hit the mainstream?