Fusion has not “always been 50 years away”, only simpletons and the scientifically illiterate would make such a statement.
Fusion has been only been a concept up to recently, we know it works as that’s how the sun works, but good luck duplicating the environment of the sun on earth. Until such time as there is a feasible prototype reactor in development there is simply no point talking about time frame, it could be 50 years away, several centuries, or never.
There are several reactors being built currently, with estimates that they will be up and running in 20-30 years. Iter in France is the largest with backing from 35 countries, the Jet project in the UK is targeting 2040 for a working reactor, and there are several projects running in the US.
The most interesting projects are smaller designs that are not as ambitious as Iter and Jet. A Canadian company called General Fusion have a novel design and are claiming they will have a model reactor up and running in five years.
If i understand it correctly, the problem isn’t achieving fusion per se, it’s achieving a stable reaction which gives out more energy than is put in, and containing that reaction??
Correct, the obstacle up to now is the process uses more energy than it produces. The technology exists to create a hot enough plasma, the issue is the massive high field magnets that are required to contain and compress the plasma enough for the fusion reaction to take place. There have been significant advances in magnet designs built with superconducting materials which allow much smaller and more efficient reactors.
Especially when they’ve spent all of their 40 odd years living in the same squalid Dublin tenement or barren Munster bog. A life of regret isn’t a life worth living.
I’ve snuck off for a quick pint in the beautiful Darling Harbour while Mrs Nwoko works the credit card. I’ll never forget how truly blessed we are to live in one of the world’s greatest cities
I built Taronga zoo with my own two hands and a spanner. I used to love the ferry to and from there each morning and evening. It’s my favourite memory of australia.
