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The lasers fuelling hopes of unlimited, clean nuclear energy

j-mac

j-mac

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A milestone has been reached in the 60-year struggle to harness the nuclear reactions that power the Sun in an experiment that could lead to a way of producing an unlimited source of clean and sustainable energy in the form of nuclear fusion.

Scientists in California said on Wednesday night that they have for the first time managed to release more energy from their nuclear fusion experiment than they put into it, which marks a critical threshold in eventually achieving the goal of a self-sustaining nuclear-fusion reaction.

The lasers fuelling hopes of unlimited, clean nuclear energy - Science - News - The Independent
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This is very cool....And it is 'clean energy' I can get behind producing...I think we should go after this like the race to the moon in the 60s.....Remarkable.
 
j-mac said:
This is very cool....And it is 'clean energy' I can get behind producing...I think we should go after this like the race to the moon in the 60s.....Remarkable.
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A friend's father specialized in laser research said we would be able to do fusion and have all the cheap energy we needed. The poor guy has been dead now for many years.
 
joG said:
A friend's father specialized in laser research said we would be able to do fusion and have all the cheap energy we needed. The poor guy has been dead now for many years.
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Yeah, shame really....See, I am an all the above guy....And although solar, and wind get all the press, THIS is what we need to be rallying around....
 
j-mac said:
This is very cool....And it is 'clean energy' I can get behind producing...I think we should go after this like the race to the moon in the 60s.....Remarkable.
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Yep! Too cool. But color me cynical, and perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised. I think black gold still rules the day (year, decade......)
 
j-mac said:
Yeah, shame really....See, I am an all the above guy....And although solar, and wind get all the press, THIS is what we need to be rallying around....
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It's unquestionable that this needs to be exploited. But sun and wind are natural accruing elements that should also be continued and expanded. Not ignored for this.
 
j-mac said:
This is very cool....And it is 'clean energy' I can get behind producing...I think we should go after this like the race to the moon in the 60s.....Remarkable.
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This is great, but we haven't scratched the surface of proven options like Thorium reactors, which have been around since the '60s and are superior to Uranium reactors in just about every way possible, including safety and fuel efficiency.

<Link>

If we'd dumped this kind of development money into Thorium reactors they'd be powering cities today, not "maybe useful someday."
 
To think that they made that much progress in 5 months. Awesome news.
 
Breaking News: Thursday Night, several scientists in California have disappeared and the only evidence at the scene was several crude oil footprints.
 
Montecresto said:
Yep! Too cool. But color me cynical, and perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised. I think black gold still rules the day (year, decade......)
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Of course it does. In no way do I propose cutting off our current methods of energy until this is proven, tested, and in place.

It's unquestionable that this needs to be exploited. But sun and wind are natural accruing elements that should also be continued and expanded. Not ignored for this.
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Natural occurring or not, they are just not going to produce energy to scale of demand, and don't have the applications that this has....Plus, unlike the current proponents of wind/solar, I am not calling for cutting off petroleum based energy before this is ready....
 
Jetboogieman said:
Breaking News: Thursday Night, several scientists in California have disappeared and the only evidence at the scene was several crude oil footprints.
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Nah, we still need crude for small footprint uses and plastics. However, everything was covered in soot.<hint><hint>
 
j-mac said:
Of course it does. In no way do I propose cutting off our current methods of energy until this is proven, tested, and in place.



Natural occurring or not, they are just not going to produce energy to scale of demand, and don't have the applications that this has....Plus, unlike the current proponents of wind/solar, I am not calling for cutting off petroleum based energy before this is ready....
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Well I'm glad your not calling for cutting off oil. Nor did anything you said cause me to think you had, but you seemed to dismiss other forms of renewable energy with your declaration that "this" is where our attention needs to be. And I don't believe that wind and sun need to be a competitor to this developing energy. They can and should co-exist. It's crude that needs to eventually go the way of (back to) the dinasaurs.
 
Montecresto said:
Well I'm glad your not calling for cutting off oil. Nor did anything you said cause me to think you had, but you seemed to dismiss other forms of renewable energy with your declaration that "this" is where our attention needs to be. And I don't believe that wind and sun need to be a competitor to this developing energy. They can and should co-exist. It's crude that needs to eventually go the way of (back to) the dinasaurs.
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Wind and Solar are great suppliments but they were never meant to be sole sources for an entire city. The reason why coal plants are more desireable than nuclear power plants is coal plants can ramp up and ramp down far easier.

Haven't really researched this new technology much so will have to take some time and look into it.
 
j-mac said:
This is very cool....And it is 'clean energy' I can get behind producing...I think we should go after this like the race to the moon in the 60s.....Remarkable.
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I think we should install local, on home, solar PV and local, on home, Wind generators like the race to the moon. Local energy, local jobs, local economic boosts all over the Nation that chooses to implement "Renewables" on a massive scale and repair economies at the local level, not the "Bankster" level. I read the article carefully and although hopeful for fusion, the whole Nuke Industry has left an aftertaste of lies and deception and truly dangerous waste for over 50 years. This is not the time to buy the old "Trust me" narrative.
 
TheNextEra said:
Wind and Solar are great suppliments but they were never meant to be sole sources for an entire city. The reason why coal plants are more desireable than nuclear power plants is coal plants can ramp up and ramp down far easier.

Haven't really researched this new technology much so will have to take some time and look into it.
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Nothing I've posted suggests wind and solar is/should be/could be stand alone.
 
My home is solar powered 17 years now. It works swimmingly. The people critical of solar power have never used it. I am surrounded by people with solar homes, none of which would go back to the dependency and occasionally problematic, let alone expensive grid power they left. Free from the potential spying and increased control of the smart meter.
 
Jetboogieman said:
Breaking News: Thursday Night, several scientists in California have disappeared and the only evidence at the scene was several crude oil footprints.
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"You can't blame for this one."

BP & Exxon
 
It will cost more per kWh so we're never going to see it.
 
j-mac said:
This is very cool....And it is 'clean energy' I can get behind producing...I think we should go after this like the race to the moon in the 60s.....Remarkable.
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Sadly the left will oppose it just like they do drilling for oil.
 
WillyPete said:
This is great, but we haven't scratched the surface of proven options like Thorium reactors, which have been around since the '60s and are superior to Uranium reactors in just about every way possible, including safety and fuel efficiency.

<Link>

If we'd dumped this kind of development money into Thorium reactors they'd be powering cities today, not "maybe useful someday."
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It is and exciting time in our country....I hope I live long enough to see it.
 
Navy Pride said:
Sadly the left will oppose it just like they do drilling for oil.
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Its clean, why would the left oppose it? The left is opposed to some oil drilling, its true, but typically if its going to harm the environment (though for the life of me I can't understand why that's a left/right thing) and generally because its dirty and its crude, and there are so many options for renewable and clean energy.
 
Montecresto said:
My home is solar powered 17 years now. It works swimmingly. The people critical of solar power have never used it. I am surrounded by people with solar homes, none of which would go back to the dependency and occasionally problematic, let alone expensive grid power they left. Free from the potential spying and increased control of the smart meter.
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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.
 
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