Nuclear fusion seems like always an X amount of years away, will we ever achieve it? In this thread we will keep an eye on the developments including more traditional nuclear energy developmens.
Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the Sun and other stars: heavy hydrogen atoms collide with enough force that they fuse together to form a helium atom, releasing large amounts of energy as a by-product. Once the hydrogen plasma “ignites”, the fusion reaction becomes self-sustaining, with the fusions themselves producing enough power to maintain the temperature without external heating.
If we could harness this reaction to generate electricity, it would be one of the most efficient and least polluting sources of energy possible. No fossil fuels would be required as the only fuel would be hydrogen, and the only by-product would be helium, which we use in industry and are actually in short supply of.
Imho currently our second best shot right after massive global geothermal and nuclear investments. Regardless, without degrowth we are toast with exponential growth paradigm still in place. Lots of people attacked it lately and nothing really happened. Some researches have even come up with answers why: Economics for the future – Beyond the superorganism - ScienceDirect
ITER, the scientific experiment in southern France that aims to demonstrate that hydrogen fusion—the energy source of the Sun and stars—can be harnessed for electricity production on a massive scale.
At ITER, the European Union (plus the UK and Switzerland), China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States are opening the way to a new, safe, clean and unlimited energy source.
Is said to be finished in 2026. As a research facility it won’t generate electricity, just consume it. So far the record for technology is net loss of 1/3 thermal energy. The attempt is to gain 90% thermal energy by making things bigger.
In other news, not sure what to think of it, but would be cool
“His slate of highly-ambitious, borderline sci-fi designs meant for use by the U.S. government range from gravitational wave generators and compact fusion reactors to next-gen hybrid aerospace-underwater crafts with revolutionary propulsion systems, and beyond.”
They once invented UFOs to cover up military aircraft tests, so I wouldn’t believe that. It’s probably just dying empire trying to cling to power by inventing ever more colorful propaganda for people to cling to during economical and social collapse.
