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I feel the same way about developing fusion as a power source. Even the scientists who work in the field acknowledge it's not happening in a lifetime. It's an incredibly expensive undertaking and those resources shouldn't be spent in these times on something so ambitious.Fusion power is what has provided the energy for life on Earth since the beginning, since it is how the Sun works. You smash two hydrogen atoms together to get a helium atom and some energy. Do it billions of times a second, and you get the Sun (and other stars).
So, perhaps naturally, humans have been trying to replicate that process here on Earth on a controlled basis as a way to generate energy (hydrogen bombs use it but are uncontrolled so can't be used to generate energy). If we could achieve its full potential, it would be cleaner than fission and fossil fuels for generating electricity. However, decades of experimentation still have not produced a fusion reactor that can produce more energy than we have to put into it to achieve "ignition" (i.e. start a fusion chain reaction similar to the fission chain reactions in a current nuclear reactor).
A project in California came a step closer last year, though, based on the papers they have now published in peer-reviewed journals.
Three peer-reviewed papers highlight scientific results of National Ignition Facility record yield shot
After decades of inertial confinement fusion research, a yield of more than 1.3 megajoules (MJ) was achieved at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) National Ignition Facility (NIF) for the first time on Aug. 8, 2021, putting researchers at the threshold of fusion gain and achieving...www.llnl.gov
There was a time when I was very "hell, yes" about fusion, but I'm less certain now. Given that we are still probably decades away from success here, one wonders if the money being spent might not be better directed to things like more efficient renewables and conservation. After all, solar arrays are using fusion power, just not directly, and are an established, working technology. Fusion is great on paper and would definitely help with climate change, but might not arrive in time and may cost far more than simply using what we already have.
Ditto. I can't see how our economy can move completely off fossil fuels without nuclear. There's just too many places that still rely on coal and LNG for electrical generation and until those are replaced with renewables or nuclear, we going to be behind the 8 ball on climate change even with EVs. Renewables are nice until you look at how much land you have to use to get the same amount of power as a single, much smaller nuclear plant. And the small-scale ones take even less space than the CANDUs and similar. I mean, try driving through SW Ontario nowadays and seeing how widespread some of these wind farms are getting. And none of them produces as much power as Pickering or Darlington do in much less space.I am unpopular for my support (with reservations) for small-scale fission reactors. These are safer and much more useful in conjunction with renewable energy. They also produce much less waste to deal with. Our knowledge about how radiation behaves has increased as well.
The problems with fission include reliability cost wise and what to do with old reactors.
Where would we be without The Onion and The Babylon Bee to find amusement in the otherwise unamusing.This is The Year
That Science Itself Retired
World In Panic As Science Announces Retirement
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The entire world is in a panic this morning at the news that Dr. Fauci, the living embodiment of science itself, will be retiring in December. The scientific community is already announcing mass resignations now that the High Priest and the mediator between mankind and the...babylonbee.com
Oh pool girl, bring the phlogistion ennumerator! We have work to do :3
YuppersWhere would we be without The Onion and The Babylon Bee to find amusement in the otherwise unamusing.
Yuppers
We need to jokers and fools
Helps break us out of our frames that are easy to be locked into...esp some of the frames that have been created to keep us anxious and afraid...there is more than one frame...that we all can try on...
Or as the Great Hicks said
Check out Jupiter in the south east night sky on Sept 26th, when it will be in opposition (Jupiter and Sun on opposite sides of the earth), and the closest to earth in 59 years.