National Ignition Facility achieves fusion ignition
www.llnl.gov
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) today announced the achievement of fusion ignition at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) — a major scientific breakthrough decades in the making that will pave the way for advancements in national defense and the future of clean power. On Dec.

More than 50% more energy was generated than was used for the reaction. 2.05 Megajoules in, 3.15 Megajoules out. Let’s see how fast the US fossil fuel oligarchs start creating anti-fusion propaganda like they did with fission.

  • @ComradeSalad
    7•1 year ago

    It was a little baby bit of energy that was barely detectable without extensive equipment… but as an overall discovery this is monumental, as there is now definitive proof beyond the theoretic, that fusion power is an achievable process.

    With this discovery I will expect very soon that the majority of world powers will immediately begin pouring in insurmountable amounts of money, personnel, and resources into their fusion projects. As the first country that can crack the code and create an operational reactor will basically have unlocked a free energy hack.

    • @GloriousDoubleK
      4•1 year ago

      That is extremely optomistic. China needs to get to it quick cause if anyone has the will to do it and do it yesterday, it’s China.

      • @ComradeSalad
        4•1 year ago

        It’s not to overly optimistic I think, I could very easily see this transition being on the same level of historical importance as the one of coal/steam to fossil fuels in the early 20th century. But I absolutely see China and the US throwing their full weight behind their fusion projects. China would be able to free itself from the last vestiges of their coal dependent society, and the US would be able to improve its extremely precarious situation as a world superpower.

        Fusion will be the key to the 21st century and beyond.

    • Arsen6331 ☭OP
      4•1 year ago

      It’s 1.10 more megajoules of energy than the input. It’s not a lot, but considering the input was 2.05 MJ, it’s a significant amount (more than 50%).