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Laser-Sparked Fusion Surpasses Break-Even

posted by robind on Thursday February 13 2014, @04:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the 50-years-away dept.

amblivious writes: "For the first time, laser-driven fusion has passed a milestone called fuel gain, the point at which more energy is produced than is consumed in starting the reaction. In a trial at the National Ignition Facility late last year, 15 kilojoules of energy was released with an input of 10 kilojoules (Nature). Although this is not yet a self-sustaining reaction because the reactor as a whole consumes more energy it is expected that collisions with helium nuclei generated in the reaction will lead to ignition. See the article at New Scientist for more information."

 
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  • (Score: 2, Funny) by AudioGuy on Friday February 14 2014, @04:12AM

    by AudioGuy (24) on Friday February 14 2014, @04:12AM (#63) Journal

    I think I have heard this before. In fact, last year. No, come think of it, year before. No, wait, year before that. Actually, every year for the last 30 or so, I think.

    You want fusion power, orbit the Sun.

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by toygeek on Friday February 14 2014, @05:28AM

    by toygeek (28) on Friday February 14 2014, @05:28AM (#66) Homepage
    And I'll tell you why: I submitted this story too. Even though there are 50 users at the moment, its showing that we are all here for the same reasons. Plus, there's only one copy of the story. No dupes! (yet)
    --
    There is no Sig. Okay, maybe a short one. http://miscdotgeek.com

  • (Score: 1) by Covalent on Friday February 14 2014, @06:17PM

    by Covalent (43) on Friday February 14 2014, @06:17PM (#88) Journal

    I know, I know...fusion is only 20 years away. But getting more energy out than you put in (minus the lasers, of course) is a big deal. They still need 2 orders of magnitude to REALLY break even, but then 20 years ago we were 2 orders of magnitude away from fuel input break even.

    --
    You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.