JFK-1 Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Nuclear fusion has produced more energy than ever before in an experiment, bringing the world a step closer to the dream of limitless, clean power. The new world record has been set at the UK-based JET laboratory. Full article - https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68233330 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pap Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 5 hot baths But i'm all aboard this train. Fingers crossed we manage to scale it up, big time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kila Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Cynic in me sees the article written In a pro-Brexit tone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulysses Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Just now, kila said: Cynic in me sees the article written In a pro-Brexit tone The successor to JET (ITER) will cost at least €22 billion to build, and more to run - the Americans say it'll be closer to €60 billion. The UK is involved, though it's unclear exactly how at the moment if it's not making contributions through Euratom. The UK is also commissioning its own facility whose main function will be to complement and add value to ITER's research, in much the same way as other countries are doing. As for the new world record, 69 megajoules seems to be about 19 units of leccy (if you could trap all the energy as leccy). The previous record was 16 units, so when you say it like that it doesn't really set the pulse racing. The news reports also don't say what the Q value was (the ratio of energy output to energy input). In 1997, JET once managed a Q value of 0.67, which is 2 units of energy out for every 3 put in. In 2021, when the 16 units of energy record was created, the Q value was about 0.33, which is 1 unit of energy out for every 3 put in. Chances are that the most recent figures will be the same. So they really are a fair distance away from realising their goal of sustainable energy production, in which you get a lot more energy out than you put in. JET has been the world leader, and in 40 years it got to the point where it could output enough energy to heat a couple of water tanks, so let's not be surprised if it takes another couple of decades to get to viability, and that's before we count how long it would take to move on to commercially viable effective delivery, followed by actually building fusion power stations. But in any case, ITER is where it's at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FWJ Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 Like Brazil being the country of the future - and always will be, controlled nuclear fusion is always 30 years away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFK-1 Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 2 hours ago, Ulysses said: The news reports also don't say what the Q value was (the ratio of energy output to energy input). That's one of the major things I wanted to know when I clicked on the headline, how much energy did you have to put into this to get these 5 hot baths out of it. But I will take their word for it that they're making progress. Saw a scientist say in a documentary one time that if you know how to extract it there's enough energy in a glass of water to power London for a month. Which also just made me think that would be one almighty bang if you could release all that energy at once. Taking water bombs to a new level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulysses Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 15 minutes ago, JFK-1 said: Taking water bombs to a new level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
il Duce McTarkin Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 We need water bongs not water bombs imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trotter Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 Delighted by this. As I've always said, renewables are not, and never will be the answer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Gentleman Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 5 hours ago, FWJ said: Like Brazil being the country of the future - and always will be, controlled nuclear fusion is always 30 years away. .........."Dr Aneeqa Khan, a research fellow in nuclear fusion at the University of Manchester, said: “These results are really exciting for the fusion community and a great end to the operations of JET which has provided the scientific community with really valuable data over its lifetime, feeding into the designs for new projects. “However, to put this in context of commercial fusion, there was still no net energy produced.” She added: “This is a great scientific result, but we are still a way off commercial fusion. We need to be training up a huge number of people with the skills to work in the field and I hope the technology will be used in the latter half of the century.” Guardian - nuclear power So that means 40+ years away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highlandjambo3 Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 I’ve just got this image in my mind…. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrysmithsgloves Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 2 hours ago, highlandjambo3 said: I’ve just got this image in my mind…. I got this 😋 still waiting on summit to eat though 😕 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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