Elusive fusion reactors to be commercialised by 2025-2030... Or so they say

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mrk said:
The UK location for the first commercial fusion reactor has been given the go-ahead. Will be operational and providing power to the grid by 2040s:

www.bbc.com

Nuclear fusion plant to be built at West Burton A power station - BBC News

West Burton A will be the site of the prototype fusion energy power plant, the government announces.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com

It literally is less than 20 years away this time :p
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It's been 20-30 years away for my entire life. I honestly don't expect to see Commerical Nuclear Fusion in my lifetime
 
The Department of Energy plans to announce Tuesday that scientists have been able for the first time to produce a fusion reaction that creates a net energy gain — a major milestone in the decades-long, multibillion dollar quest to develop a technology that provides unlimited, cheap, clean power.
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Interesting to see what DOE announce on Tuesday
 
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That was before Ignition was reached, Ignition was reached back in ~2020 and published a year later, though they could not reproduce the result since, no idea what this new announcement is about but given it's the US DOE, I suspect they've reproduced it now and with a net gain in combo - Otherwise DOE have no reason to make an announcement and the news would go into another science journal paper like before.
 
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FIngers crossed for good news indeed. I want to see certain naysayers eat their hats :p

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Looks like it was another NIF experiment and another net gain, so now that it's been reproduced, full steam ahead. Prediction is that viable Fusion in action within the next 10 years. See what the DOE say on Tuesday too.

www.independent.co.uk

US scientists achieve ‘holy grail’ nuclear fusion reaction: report

Nuclear fusion could be key tool to stave off climate crisis
www.independent.co.uk www.independent.co.uk
 
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Unfortunately, what some media outlets refer to as a "net gain" at NIF isn't really a net gain. It's still a net loss. Due to the way that the system works, most of the energy input is lost without reaching the fuel. The "net gain" reporting ignores that and counts only the fraction of the input energy that reaches the target.

A rough analogy would be if you paid £1000 to enter a casino, bet £100 on something and won £120 from that bet. A net gain...if you ignore the entry fee.

It's promising, but it's not what it's often portrayed as being.
 
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So watching the stream, the scientist explained what they did, the experiment last week took 300mj "wall power" to drive lasers at 2mj, the resulting output was 3mj. She stressed that we are decades away but also stressed that we are not 5 or 6 decades away, and the secretary speaking just now stated the goal is commercial fusion in the next 10 years. She stated that last week's experiment was the first time this has been possible and they spent a week reviewing the data with a worldwide team, then having an independent body of experts peer review their findings before going public.

So good progress, and also highlighted that this is one experiment using one type of confinement, and there are private companies working on their own reactor types and methods. The scientist noted that the private sector is ahead of what NIF is at and stated that NIF is built on "1980s laser technology" - I guess this is what can be expected for the differences between private vs gov/public funded.

For all intents and purposes, private fusion will beat all government funded efforts to commercial fusion and we will likely see a military based application before anything that benefits civilian life.

The way the world works...
 
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Stupid person question, but is this the thing that could eventually (long after we’re gone) be used to power starships?
 
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Compact fusion reactors are something being worked on by a number of private companies right now and yes they are one method to power ships to explore space with. The key ingredient needed to do fusion is in water, and water is everywhere in the universe so can be mined from comets/asteroids and moons alike etc.
 
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