Even the optimists understand that it will be decades before fusion power can contribute to the grid, regardless of this achievement. We only have years to achieve the changes that are necessary to avoid social catastrophe due to what’s happening to the biosphere, and that’s assuming it’s not already too late. But it will make not one jot of a positive difference to the challenges my children and grandchildren will face as a result of the climate crisis. Yes, it’s a fantastic achievement for those scientists and engineers who have worked to achieve this proof on concept well done them. Dr Chris Cragg LondonĪrthur Turrell writes that achieving “net energy gain” has a psychological effect akin to a trumpet to the ear. After all, it has taken 60-odd years and huge amounts of money to get this far. However, I am prepared to bet that a true fusion power station is unlikely to be running before my grandchildren turn 70. In this regard, what is really valuable is that the community can now concentrate on this type of reactor, rather than other designs like the tokamak. It is indeed good news that the US National Ignition Facility has got a “net energy gain” of 1.1 MJ from an inertial confinement fusion device using lasers. Dr Mark Diesendorf University of New South WalesĪs someone who once wrote a critical report for the European parliament on fusion power back in the late 1980s, I hate to rain on Arthur Turrell’s splendid parade ( The carbon-free energy of the future: this fusion breakthrough changes everything, 13 December). The US National Ignition Facility, which did the research, is part of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which has a history of involvement with nuclear weaponry.
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