Fusion announcement from the Ignition lab.

[darjr]

@Umbran I summon thee, pretty please.

Wots with this all then?

They got a ratio of 1.5? Is that just with the plasma energy? Or total energy needed to do the thing?

How surprising is this announcement, really?

 

[GreyLord]

@Umbran I summon thee, pretty please.

Wots with this all then?

They got a ratio of 1.5? Is that just with the plasma energy? Or total energy needed to do the thing?

How surprising is this announcement, really?

I have some acquaintances that work at that lab. No, I haven't talked to them about this. No idea if they were even involved...but know some people who work there.

 

[J.Quondam]

I thought this article was pretty accessible:

What enabled the big boost in fusion energy announced this week?

Two megajoules of laser yielded three megajoules of fusion energy.

arstechnica.com

the tl;dr:
They focused 2MJ of laser energy onto a target and got 3MJ of energy output, which is where the 1.5x factor comes from.
Caveat: powering those lasers sucked up 300MJ of electricity. So there's that. And it's not clear how scalable the method (lasers) is compared to avenues of research.

 

[Stalker0]

They are always referring to the laser, not the total system. when you look at how much energy the entire kitten koboodle takes, versus how much it generates, we are not even close to a net positive.

So the new benchmark for the laser is an achievement, but no this is not an announcement worthy of any hype.

 

[Umbran]

They are always referring to the laser, not the total system. when you look at how much energy the entire kitten koboodle takes, versus how much it generates, we are not even close to a net positive.

So the new benchmark for the laser is an achievement, but no this is not an announcement worthy of any hype.

Oh, it is a worthy announcement.
If all you care about is "the whole kit and caboodle", then you won't care about this, no. But, we are many steps away from that. This effort yielded significant information about controlling fusion processes - maintaining a fusion process for so long is not to be sneezed at.

 

[Stalker0]

Oh, it is a worthy announcement.
If all you care about is "the whole kit and caboodle", then you won't care about this, no. But, we are many steps away from that. This effort yielded significant information about controlling fusion processes - maintaining a fusion process for so long is not to be sneezed at.

I agree, the issue is that things are often overhyped in the media. The headline on slash dot for example basically implies “we have energy generating fusion”…and we absolutely do not.

 

[Umbran]

I agree, the issue is that things are often overhyped in the media. The headline on slash dot for example basically implies “we have energy generating fusion”…and we absolutely do not.

Well, we have energy generating fusion. Especially if they can repeat the feat.
We don't have an energy generating fusion power plant.

 

[darjr]

Well, we have energy generating fusion. Especially if they can repeat the feat.
We don't have an energy generating fusion power plant.

Do you see a way there? Can this do that or are the lasers too energy needy?

 

[Davies]

So would this be analogous to December 1938 or analogous to December 1942?

 

[Umbran]

Do you see a way there? Can this do that or are the lasers too energy needy?

The technology the NIF is using seems to be an unlikely candidate for commercial power production. I think it is an excellent way to study fusion, and the information gained may make one of the other fusions technologies work.