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The lasers fuelling hopes of unlimited, clean nuclear energy

The goal of the NIF has nothing to do with generating nuclear power. It is a front for weapons research.

It isn't a 'front' for weapons research. You have it backwards, it's a weapons research facility that is really a front for fusion research. At the end of the Cold War and the impending curtailment of federal funds for our nuclear facilities and atomic laboratories scientists and congressional allies colluded to create programs that had a national security/nuclear stockpile angle but really functioned for completely different purposes. So NIF was born, as was MESA and DARH all of which were ostensibly created for proliferation or weapons design purposes, all of which have poured the bulk of their efforts into civil research. Their military narrative is a useful way to keep funding flowing.
 
There is a world of difference between powering a single home and integrating an energy into the grid. Your available space is large, your energy needs small, and you are only responsible for yourself. This approach is not feasible for lets say a large city unless you can find a way to integrate it into the power grid which aside from having several issues that need resolving also needs to be much cheaper than it is today.

I don't believe I said anything about powering a city. Read closer.
 

Then I have some bad news. Note this paragraph in the article you gave.

Hurricane’s current output, although more than the hydrogen fuel put into the reaction, hasn’t yet reached the stated goal to achieve “ignition," where nuclear fusion generates as much energy as the lasers supply. At that point it might be possible to make a sustainable power plant based on the technology.

Big leap for fusion: more energy produced than spent igniting fuel | Ars Technica
 
Sadly the right will oppose it just like they do solar, wind, hydro, thermal...

I don't think either left or right will oppose it if it is reliable, and cost efficient....Like I said, I am about as conservative as you get rationally, and I say try it all...Monte's solar powered home is interesting, and I would love to see it in operation, if I actually knew him that is....But if the government is going to force us anyway, we might as well find and try everything that works.
 
Now that we have a technology to store unlimited amounts of energy in a
Stable form, we do not actually have an energy crisis.
We need to build lots of solar homes, but now with a method of storage,
all the excess power can be stored and used when needed.
(our natural gas grid, and fuel supply infrastructure can hold and enormous amount of supply)
And it can be carbon neutral.
Fueling the Fleet, Navy Looks to the Seas - U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
On the plus side, the infrastructure is already in place for distribution.
 
This whole thing reminds me of all the
cure for cancer on the horizon" news that I have been seeing for 40 years. I wouldn't get too excited.

Even if they achieved ignition tomorrow we would be years away from commercially available fusion power, nevertheless it is exciting news and these are necessary hurdles we need to clear to get to where we want to go. As for cancer we've been making huge progress on that front so buck up!
 
Even if they achieved ignition tomorrow we would be years away from commercially available fusion power, nevertheless it is exciting news and these are necessary hurdles we need to clear to get to where we want to go. As for cancer we've been making huge progress on that front so buck up!


Looks like someone needs to revisit this whole Laws of thermodynamics thingy. ;)


Tim-
 
About time; we need to be able to de-salinate ocean water and transport to any State of the Union, with better aqueducts and roads.
 
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