US scientists repeat fusion power breakthrough
www.afr.com
The latest result is set to fuel optimism that progress is being made towards the dream of limitless, zero-carbon power.

Until December no group able to produce more energy from reaction than it consumes. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory repeated breakthrough in experiment on July 30. Scientists believe fusion power stations still decades away.

  • @empireOfLoveEnglish
    17•11 months ago

    I know a little about stuff.

    Similar to the 2022 firing, The fusion charge itself was net energy positive. That is, the fusion production was greater than the input of laser shot used, which means they’re closing in on optimal ignition.

    However: the total cycle energy was terrible. The lasers NIF uses are quite old due to the speed of government and the sheer size of the project, plus thermodynamics hates an engineer’s guts. so their total real input electrical energy to generate such a laser pulse of a few joules was hundreds of thousands of times greater than the actual fusion output.

    This is great for understanding the physics of conditions that fusion requires, but terrible for generating power.