Dromond
Pleasantly abstruse.
Research teams have been working on fusion power for decades. In the United States, the National Ignition Facility is where the work is being done. In Europe, it's ITER - an ambitious project to build a large scale fusion reactor in France. I have no doubt Russia and China are working on fusion power as well.
The problem isn't getting a controlled reaction. We can do that now. The problem is making it energy efficient, with the reactor generating more energy than it consumes. That is the big hurdle. This press release from the NIF says "mankind is on the verge of fusion ignition!" Yeah, heard it before. We've heard it for 60 years.
Green energy supporters hate it. They think it's big, showy, expensive, and a total waste of money. They also hate it because it is "nuclear." There is a knee-jerk reaction against any atomic age power, even though the fusion reaction doesn't leave much in the way of radioactive waste.
Skeptics say it'll never happen. It's going to be vaporware forever.
Supporters say it'll happen someday, and we need to keep plugging away at the puzzle.
Dreamers are enchanted by the possibility of near limitless clean power and it's ability to transform society.
I'm a supporter of the research effort, but I don't think there will be practical fusion power reactors in my lifetime. Taking the long view of history, I still think it's worth the cost to keep building our knowledge base so one day humanity will finally cut this Gordian knot.
The problem isn't getting a controlled reaction. We can do that now. The problem is making it energy efficient, with the reactor generating more energy than it consumes. That is the big hurdle. This press release from the NIF says "mankind is on the verge of fusion ignition!" Yeah, heard it before. We've heard it for 60 years.
Green energy supporters hate it. They think it's big, showy, expensive, and a total waste of money. They also hate it because it is "nuclear." There is a knee-jerk reaction against any atomic age power, even though the fusion reaction doesn't leave much in the way of radioactive waste.
Skeptics say it'll never happen. It's going to be vaporware forever.
Supporters say it'll happen someday, and we need to keep plugging away at the puzzle.
Dreamers are enchanted by the possibility of near limitless clean power and it's ability to transform society.
I'm a supporter of the research effort, but I don't think there will be practical fusion power reactors in my lifetime. Taking the long view of history, I still think it's worth the cost to keep building our knowledge base so one day humanity will finally cut this Gordian knot.
