Nuclear Fusion

[migtig]

This is awesome news. Really.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24429621

Excerpts:

NIF, based at Livermore in California, uses 192 beams from the world's most powerful laser to heat and compress a small pellet of hydrogen fuel to the point where nuclear fusion reactions take place.

The BBC understands that during an experiment in late September, the amount of energy released through the fusion reaction exceeded the amount of energy being absorbed by the fuel - the first time this had been achieved at any fusion facility in the world.

This is a step short of the lab's stated goal of "ignition", where nuclear fusion generates as much energy as the lasers supply. This is because known "inefficiencies" in different parts of the system mean not all the energy supplied through the laser is delivered to the fuel.

But the latest achievement has been described as the single most meaningful step for fusion in recent years, and demonstrates NIF is well on its way towards the coveted target of ignition and self-sustaining fusion.

 

[GURPS]

 

[Railroad]

Cool. Worth watching for further advancements.

 

[Tilted]

Nuclear fusion is a fraud! It's just a scam perpetuated by a mischievous, and rather bored, God.

 

[SamSpade]

I worked for a man who at the time was working the magnetic field angle of nuclear fusion. He's now head of some department in South Korea doing the same kind of research.

He was fond of the oft-repeated joke that "nuclear fusion is ALWAYS twenty years away". At the time, he didn't believe that a commercially viable generator would EVER be made - that it was an interesting scientific endeavor, but ultimately a pointless engineering effort.

I've been following the NIF for a while, but I'm more interested in LENR research. It's quirky, but like the bee that didn't know it couldn't fly, it has this nasty ability to defy physics and just *work* anyway.