Fusion Energy Breakthrough

[Promotone]

Ha

 

[Chuckanut]

From a letter to the editor in today's WSJ:

I’d note that magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) approaches, such as the JET tokamak, have already achieved substantially better wall-plug efficiency than reported NIF results and avoid the need to build some kind of machine gun of tiny bombs to provide continuous power. MCF machines can already run for minutes, with an eye toward steady-state operation.

It will be interesting to see what tech wins out. Or maybe more than one will prove useful?

 

[RobbieB]

Inertial confinement is a good way to test bomb physics.

Magnetic confinement is the way to go for grid energy.

 

[Koolau]

Inertial confinement is a good way to test bomb physics.

Magnetic confinement is the way to go for grid energy.

You folks put me to shame. I have no idea how such things w*rk. I just know that containing that much energy is gonna be problematic.

 

[sroby2020]

How to contain a miniature sun in a suitably sized container?

Quoted from 2 Peter 3:10 "... and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."

 

[GaryInCO]

They've been working on tokamaks for over 60 years. They're getting closer but they still have a looong way to go. And even if they get steady net positive output, the process to turn it into usable energy is still pretty steampunk -- boil water, turn generator. Very inefficient. Also tokamaks usually need Helium3, which is incredibly rare.

I like the looks of some of the newer/smaller tech. Helion Energy looks very promising. They can build much smaller reactors, they use direct capture of electricity from the magnetic fields, and they can generate their own Helium3. They're on their 5th-gen testbed and they think they can hit net-positive next year.

https://www.helionenergy.com/

 

[Redwwoo]

One ton of deuterium fused with one ton of tritium produces the same energy as 29 billion tons of coal.

 

[NW-Bound]

One ton of deuterium fused with one ton of tritium produces the same energy as 29 billion tons of coal.

... which makes hydrogen fusion the Holy Grail of energy generation.

 

[Koolau]

... which makes hydrogen fusion the Holy Grail of energy generation.

And the sun is already doing it for free. We already know how to collet the energy. If we could just store enough of it, that's gotta be cheaper and easier than fusion in a magnetic vessel. But YMMV.

 

[davidfin]

Tremendous accomplishment. Still very early but now more promising and possibly more predictable. Watch oil companies investments.

 

[CDRE]

This article provides some details on parts of the December 2022 fusion experiment. The title is "The tiny diamond sphere that could unlock clean power": https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64553796