Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Slinger
Fusion seems to be the great white hope when it comes to energy. It seems like every few years there's a scientist that proclaims we're close to fusion. I guess I'll believe it when I see it. If it happens it would essentially solve all the worlds energy issues and then some.
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Fusion....always 20 years away.
It might end up being very important but right now even though billions are being poured into the ITER Tokamak I believe only one group from Lawrence Livermore have shown a net gain in energy for a fusion reaction and it isn't a Tokamal design. Unfortunately when you take into account the energy required to actually do the reaction the overall energy gain was extremely negligible. They used 192 of the strongest lasers directed at a very small capsule containing the fuel.
The ITER Tokamak....First of all the money being poured into the Tokamak is insane and it is likely the worst fusion technology to push forward but it is the one the governments are pushing forward. Second of all they predict first plasma shots by 2020. That is a pipe dream to begin with and it is a long ways away from the actual running of the plasma for net energy gain. I say pipedream because much has been said, written and reported on the completely unrealistic schedule they still promote and lack of, well, any sort of coherent plan on how to do things. 2027 is the current date for Deuterium-Tritium operation to begin...having talked to some guys involved with the project in a, shall we say off the record sort of way, you can safely push that out at least 10 years. And perhaps forever as countries actively talk about pulling the funding.
You are more likely to see some very small modular nuclear fission reactors play an important role for communities moving forward than you are fusion....and even the fission ones are a stretch in todays political climate. We're talking 1 MW to 200 MW reactors.