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Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy

#31

Post by dj_mc_merlin »

CodeGlitch wrote: post #21
unfocussed_mike wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can read that as a pro-Brexit comment, then the Brexit project succeeded beyond its instigators' wildest dreams. It's not ambiguous at all. Everything in the UK going on right now -- everything -- has a "some of this is unclear or worse because Brexit has destroyed agreements or because proposed, nearly impossible agreements have not been struck" subplot. Brexit has set fire to every kind of international comp…

You do realise that countries can work together without being part of the same trading block? ... If I understand your nonsensical ramblings correctly.

Yes, countries work together by making agreements. UK decided to burn perhaps the largest and most fruitful agreements ever made between European countries. What's nonsensical is claiming one can work together after doing the exact opposite of that.

Re: Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy

#32

Post by oxfordmale »

spuz wrote: post #6

> The experiments produced 59 megajoules of energy over five seconds (11 megawatts of power). > This is more than double what was achieved in similar tests back in 1997. > It's not a massive energy output - only enough to boil about 60 kettles' worth of water. But the significance is that it validates design choices that have been made for an even bigger fusion reactor now being constructed in France. I thought this…

Of course this is great news, however, it is worth taking into account it took them 25 years just to double the energy output. They are also nowhere near long sustained operation of such reactors. It really requires an order of magnitude increase before nuclear fusion becomes a realistic prospect in two decades.

I understand this just to validate design choices and it is a good step forward. However, it doesn't make nuclear fusion a reality in two decades unless further records are set using this design

Re: Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy

#34

Post by skywal_l »

BenoitP wrote: post #5

Here is the paper detailing the preparations, which were about mimicking an ITER-like wall: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1741-4326/ab2276/...

So I read that this is good news for ITER.

Sorry for the noob question but there is something I do not understand. I thought ITER design was more or less decided now as they are building it. Should I understand that they started building ITER without really knowing where they were going to go and are using JET experiment as a way know how to build ITER?

Re: Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy

#36

Post by A_non_e-moose »

CodeGlitch wrote: post #21
unfocussed_mike wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can read that as a pro-Brexit comment, then the Brexit project succeeded beyond its instigators' wildest dreams. It's not ambiguous at all. Everything in the UK going on right now -- everything -- has a "some of this is unclear or worse because Brexit has destroyed agreements or because proposed, nearly impossible agreements have not been struck" subplot. Brexit has set fire to every kind of international comp…

You do realise that countries can work together without being part of the same trading block? ... If I understand your nonsensical ramblings correctly.

It's not a binary thing. It's not either they work together or they don't.

Under a common block, trading or otherwise, things are just easier and much closer together.

Consider only visas, travel and employment, the complications of these brought by Brexit, already distanced any existing and future collaborations by some measure.

There is still collaboration of course, and there will be, but it's not what it was before.

And this negative trend of distance in collaboration is more worrying in an increasingly threatening environment.

Re: Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy

#37

Post by axg11 »

What is stopping one of the major western governments from printing $50B of their own currency and investing it all in an intensive fusion programme?

There doesn’t seem to be much to lose (these economies are already unreasonably inflated) but so much to gain from viable fusion.

Re: Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy

#39

Post by johlindenbaum »

axg11 wrote: post #37

What is stopping one of the major western governments from printing $50B of their own currency and investing it all in an intensive fusion programme? There doesn’t seem to be much to lose (these economies are already unreasonably inflated) but so much to gain from viable fusion.

ITER is doing that, no? Large scale test of fusion energy output.
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