Currently the maximum Q value achieved by humans is 1.53.
Had no idea someone had managed to get more energy out of a fusion device than they put in. Must have been unable to sustain it for any significant length of time, but still seems important.
Also this is just plasma gain, not whole system gain. To have a commercially viable reactor your probably need Q total > 10 at least. No system build so far even has a Q total of 1
The Q=1.53 was done at the National Ignition Facility using inertial confinement fusion, which is significant for plasma research (and probably bombs), but can’t be used to generate power.
Why do you think that? The use of higher temperature superconductors is stated to significantly reduce size and construction time so you don’t have to wait 30 years for ITER.
Q>10 is one thing, being able to sustain that for useful periods, cheap fuel, accessible tritium) radioactive waste and not having to rebuild the reactor every few years are far more difficult problems.
deleted by creator
I’d imagine, but I found this interesting:
Had no idea someone had managed to get more energy out of a fusion device than they put in. Must have been unable to sustain it for any significant length of time, but still seems important.
It was the NIF two years ago but it’s also not going to be generating power ever, it was just a demonstration/proof of concept.
Also this is just plasma gain, not whole system gain. To have a commercially viable reactor your probably need Q total > 10 at least. No system build so far even has a Q total of 1
It was big news I want to say about a year ago when a team first published that they had done it
The Q=1.53 was done at the National Ignition Facility using inertial confinement fusion, which is significant for plasma research (and probably bombs), but can’t be used to generate power.
By 2027 the goal is Q>10
deleted by creator
deleted by creator
Why do you think that? The use of higher temperature superconductors is stated to significantly reduce size and construction time so you don’t have to wait 30 years for ITER.
Q>10 is one thing, being able to sustain that for useful periods, cheap fuel, accessible tritium) radioactive waste and not having to rebuild the reactor every few years are far more difficult problems.
deleted by creator
Right, but they weren’t building these sort of functioning scaled down demonstrators in the 70s
Is there even a theoretical model that suggests cold fusion could occur?
deleted by creator