Fusion Breakthrough

[silent thunder]

This is rather gobsmacking to me.  They were closing in at 1.3 return for quite a while, but now they've done it.  Net gain in energy in a controlled fusion process.

 

Truly an historic achievement: scientists at LLNL achieved a net gain in energy return passed the 1.9 megajule threshold.  Decades of global pursuit resulting in success.

 

I'm chuffed.  Still a long road to get the engineering and infrastructure to handle and process it for major usage (and fight off the expectant surge of resistance to change), but this is a massive breakthrough and a huge achievement for our future. 

 

Fusion Energy Breakthrough - CNET article

[Nungali]

Some of the figures in that article are pretty confusing , then at the end there is a correction .  It also states that the  energy output was greater than the input ... but that input measurement was only the lasers that hit the target , it seems to suggest that a massive amount of energy was used , much more than any output, and a lot of it did not hit the target . But then the correction at the end isnt clear if that is overall energy put into the system ... or just  'on target ' .

[silent thunder]

Quote

Despite decades of effort, however, there had been a major kink in these fusion experiments: the amount of energy used to achieve fusion has far outweighed the energy coming out. As part of the NIF mission, scientists had long hoped to achieve "ignition," where the energy output is "greater than or equal to laser drive energy." 

 

Some experts have remained skeptical that such a feat was even possible with fusion reactors currently in operation. But slowly, NIF pushed forward. In August last year, LLNL revealed it had come close to this threshold by generating around 1.3 megajoules (a measure of energy) against a laser drive using 1.9 megajoules. 

 

But on Dec. 5, LLNL's scientists say, they managed to cross the threshold. 

They achieved ignition.

It's the targeted achievement of the operation revolving around succesful 'ignition' of a controlled fusion reaction using the 1.9 megajoule laser drive.  This was theoretical prior to this achievement.  Many assumed it could not be done.  After 60 years of work by teams around the world, it's no longer theory.

 

The engineering involved in turning this first step into a functional grid is likely decades off, but this step was crucial if that were to be a possibility.