On the Verge of Realizing Fusion?

[MolaKule]

Let's hope they can get to the point of sustaining Fusion for longer than 100 trillionths of a second.

National Ignition Facility experiment puts researchers at threshold of fusion ignition

On Aug. 8, 2021, an experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) National Ignition Facility (NIF) made a significant step toward ignition, achieving a yield of more than 1.3 megajoules (MJ). This advancement puts researchers at the threshold of fusion ignition, an important...

www.llnl.gov

 

[Donald]

There is certainly is a lot of interest and effort being put into fusion these days.

I hope they get going with some new design fission reactors while they continue with the research into fusion.

 

[Cujet]

It seems to me that inertial containment, to mimic the sun, is going to require actual pressure and gravity, created through physical means. I've always believed lasers and magnets are not going to cut it. We can create a hydrogen fusion bomb using those forces. So we know what's required.

 

[gathermewool]

It seems to me that inertial containment, to mimic the sun, is going to require actual pressure and gravity, created through physical means. I've always believed lasers and magnets are not going to cut it. We can create a hydrogen fusion bomb using those forces. So we know what's required.

That's all, huh?

 

[ironman_gq]

Just a fun fact, this whole reaction released roughly the same amount of energy as a snickers bar contains.

 

[Leo99]

Just a fun fact, this whole reaction released roughly the same amount of energy as a snickers bar contains.

How much energy went in to the reaction? I'm assuming slightly more than a snickers bar worth.

 

[PandaBear]

I think it would be an interesting achievement but not going to solve our energy problem in our lifetime. Cost would be super high and we would have gone to Thorium based reactor long before that. Until we can find some sort of way above room temp superconductor made not out of expensive material, this would likely remain in the research domain.

 

[OVERKILL]

There is certainly is a lot of interest and effort being put into fusion these days.

I hope they get going with some new design fission reactors while they continue with the research into fusion.

There always has been, it's basically the holy grail of nuclear, despite the fact that we aren't anywhere close to producing electricity with it, let alone affordably. In comparison, fission was brought into being rapidly, and quite inexpensively and has been improved upon and refined for roughly 70 years.

I think it's a noble pursuit, certainly, the science. But in no way should we be relying on this research as a future means of power production, that should be fission, because it's here, it works, and we already need the power.

 

[Al]

We are no closer now than 50+ years ago when folks were touting it. Never happen except at the molecular level. Scientists getting grants to research the impossible.

 

[OVERKILL]

We are no closer now than 50+ years ago when folks were touting it. Never happen except at the molecular level. Scientists getting grants to research the impossible.

Fusion is of course possible. The issue is that fusion, by itself isn't overly useful. You need to have a self-sustaining reaction that produces significant excess energy (like fission) that can be harnessed to produce electricity. We are a long, LONG way from that, even if we are close to reaching 1:1 energy in/out.

 

[UncleDave]

I've been hearing fission "is coming" since I was in grade school and Im 54.

It's coming alright......along with the metric system, killer bees..fire ants...

 

[Al]

I've been hearing fission "is coming" since I was in grade school and Im 54.

It's coming alright......along with the metric system, killer bees..fire ants...

I'm betting on the killer bees, etc.

 

[Wolf359]

I've been hearing fission "is coming" since I was in grade school and Im 54.

It's coming alright......along with the metric system, killer bees..fire ants...

It's been coming for a long time. It's always been about 20 years away. Probably still another 20 years away. Maybe getting closer. It seems like there's always some instability that they then figure out and then another instability that pops up. But maybe they're actually getting closer this time. Could be like AI, same thing, always about 20 years out but now now it's almost like it's here now.

 

[Skippy722]

Just a fun fact, this whole reaction released roughly the same amount of energy as a snickers bar contains.

1 nutritional calorie is equal to 4,184 joules. A regular snickers bar at 280 calories contains 1,171,520 joules, or 1.17MJ. I saw a TikTok about this and went down that rabbit hole lol

How much energy went in to the reaction? I'm assuming slightly more than a snickers bar worth.

According to NIF they pumped in 1.9MJ of energy, so the reaction produced 70%.

 

[sk_pete]

 

[PandaBear]

Cliff Note: we "maybe" close to getting self sustaining fusion but after factoring in all the other efficiency of generation, facility, cooling, input and output etc, we are not anywhere close to reaching positive return.

 

[Brons2]

Fusion was achieved on November 1st, 1952, when Ivy Mike was detonated, the first thermonuclear bomb.

What's this you say? You want it in a controlled fashion?

 

[Kuato]

Just a fun fact, this whole reaction released roughly the same amount of energy as a snickers bar contains.

Guess they'll be measuring fusion output in...wait for it...
Kilosnickers

 

[javacontour]

I'm betting on the killer bees, etc.

If we can use killer bees for fusion, two problems solved...

 

[Owen Lucas]

A super fancy way to boil water, which I hope works out. A good side project for the scientific community to focus on in hopes we get the Tokomak running with a sustainable positive output in the next decade.

Another fun fact, the inside of the reactor is hotter than the surface of the sun and a few feet away the insulation layer is near absolute zero, talk about a temperature difference!

Bill Gates was supposedly going to make a push for more nuclear reactors with his foundation focusing on Thorium but then Fukushima happened in 2011 and nuclear energy received a lot of bad press. A molten sodium thorium reactor is planned for Wyoming in the coming years so hopefully this safer version of nuclear takes off.

If electric cars were to ever take off completely we need a more robust grid and increased power generation. I don't remember where I read this or if its 100% true, but if everyone in LA were to switch to electric cars and charge at the same time at night, the grid would shut down due to lack of supply.