Cheap, practical fusion may be closer than you think.
Nuclear fusion is 30 years away, and always will be. That’s the refrain we’ve heard, again and again for decades.
And yet, quietly, fusion has advanced exponentially since 1970, about as quickly as Moore’s Law. We’ve progressed, in fusion, from clunky TRS-80s and Commodore 64s, to today’s iPhones and Macbooks.
But this is a story that few have noticed. Unlike computers, fusion has to get really great before it’s useful at all. Right now it’s pretty good, but not quite good enough. It’s getting close though.
There’s another reason the story’s been missed. We’ve spent billions on enormous, horribly complex fusion reactors that aren’t expected to be commercially available before 2050…and even then, it’s hard to see how they wouldn’t be too expensive.
But those are not the only game in town. The real overlooked story is this: a handful of small research projects, often running on a shoestring, ready to beat the big projects at their own game. Some of these little projects have attracted serious investment, from venture capitalists and Goldman Sachs.
And not a moment too soon, with CO2 levels already at 400ppm, and no significant emission cuts in sight. The clock’s running out. We need something dramatic.
If we may be permitted a football analogy: We’re five points behind, there’s half a minute left in the game, we’re a long way from the endzone, and we’re not going to get there in time by playing it safe. We need a long pass. We might not win, but it’s the one play that gives us a chance.
Or in gambling terms…it’s worth drawing to an inside straight when there’s enough money in the pot.
The fusion projects listed here give us a shot at power competitive with fossil fuels or (in some cases) far cheaper, with no pollution, perfect safety, and no nuclear waste. Sound too good to be true? Read on. Find out what these projects are, and how we can use better funding mechanisms to improve our odds.
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Fusion Reactor
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The world's largest and most advanced tokamak fusion reactor has gone online as the EU/Japanese 370-tonne JT-60SA reactor was fired up for the first time during an inauguration ceremony in Ibaraki ...
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Fusion Reactor
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- Shaping a new generation of nuclear fusion researchers
He likes to work on the tough stuff — especially if it points to great benefit for society. That’s one reason he was drawn to the research group of Arijit Bose, assistant professor of physics and ...
- Uncle Sam plows $42M into nurturing fusion breakthrough
The US Department of Energy has released $42 million in seed funding to help research the nuclear fusion techniques successfully demonstrated at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory last year.
- UR receives $10M to head national inertial fusion research hub
The University of Rochester received a four-year, $10 million award to lead a research hub for inertial fusion energy. UR’s hub is known as Inertial Fusion ...
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With $42 million, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Colorado State University and the University of Rochester will work on studies to tap into a bountiful energy source.
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Welcome to The Hill’s Sustainability newsletter{beacon} Sustainability Sustainability The Big Story Fusion gets a bipartisan boostA major bipartisan bill that seeks to create a ...
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One Comment
AlainCo (@alain_co)
Are you aware that in Vancouver you have one of the tree companies building LENR (Alias cold fusion) reactor.
for details on the companies involved read that executive summary
http://www.lenrnews.eu/lenr-summary-for-policy-makers/
Of course people says that it is impossible because if you use plasma physics inside a solid it does not work… and hundred of experiments says anyway it works… some in US navy NRL, US Navy Spawar, NASA GRC, ENEA, BARC, Toyota, Mitsubishi…
to fight against those evidence, there is only absurds arguments, manipulations…
http://www.lenrnews.eu/evidences-that-lenr-is-real-beyond-any-reasonable-doubt/
Even you you are not absolutely convinced, given what is happening you should look further to rulout a huge blackswan.
There is an elephant in the kitchen…
I bet nobody will dare to look into the telescope.