Scientists at a California lab announced today that they had made a major breakthrough in the process of nuclear fusion, the process of harnessing the power of sun to make energy.
Scientists at the National Ignition Facility used 192 beams from the world’s most powerful laser to compress a small pellet of hydrogen fuel, causing more fuel to exceed the amount of fuel absorbed. This stopped just short of ignition, where nuclear fusion generates as much fuel as the lasers supply, due to “inefficiencies” in different parts of the system. But that doesn’t mean this latest achievement isn’t a breakthrough in the half-century search for nuclear fusion, which could drastically cut fuel costs. Read more at BBC News.
{Matzav.com Newscenter}
“causing more fuel to exceed the amount of fuel absorbed. This stopped just short of ignition, where nuclear fusion generates as much fuel as the lasers supply”
Change the word “fuel” to “energy” in this part of the article, and it will begin to make physics sense.
Nuclear fusion breakeven has been a year away for fifty years. The NIF has absorbed so much of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s budget, that it hardly has money or people left to do anything else. I saw that effect in the 2000s, when I funded them on a different project.
I wouldn’t hold my breath on this one…