Scientists achieve major breakthrough in the quest for limitless energy: ‘It’s setting a world record’
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/scientists-achieve-major-breakthrough-quest-040000936.html
Scientists achieve major breakthrough in the quest for limitless energy: ‘It’s setting a world record’
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/scientists-achieve-major-breakthrough-quest-040000936.html
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From the article
>The [Wisconsin HTS Axisymmetric Mirror](https://wippl.wisc.edu/wisconsin-hts-axisymmetric-mirror/) research team was able to create and hold a plasma using a magnetic field strength of 17 Tesla through high-temperature superconductor magnets, as Interesting Engineering [reported](https://interestingengineering.com/science/wham-magnetic-field-record).
>The magnet systems were [delivered](https://news.wisc.edu/first-plasma-marks-major-milestone-in-uw-madison-fusion-energy-research/) to the University of Wisconsin’s [Physical Sciences Laboratory](https://uwpsl.wisc.edu/) in Stoughton, Wisconsin, this year by Commonwealth Fusion Systems. The project operates as a public-private partnership with Realta Fusion, Inc., a UW-Madison spin-off company that contributes funding, [according](https://wham.physics.wisc.edu/) to the lab.
>”It’s setting a world record in magnetic field strength for magnetically confined plasmas and is equipped with intense heating systems while still being a hands-on experiment for both graduate and undergraduate students,” Realta Fusion co-founder and UW-Madison scientist Jay Anderson said, per Interesting Engineering.
Also from the article
>German-American physicist and billionaire entrepreneur Frank Laukien had some prophetic statements about the future of fusion, as Yale Environment 360 [reported](https://e360.yale.edu/features/nuclear-fusion-research-startups).
>”If we really want a fully renewable energy supply, we need fusion as a third pillar,” Laukien said, referencing solar and wind development. “Fusion is the key to a decarbonized future.”
>There could be serious benefits from a device that can generate the same energy from a single gram of fuel as 11 tons of dirty coal, as proponents have [suggested](https://e360.yale.edu/features/nuclear-fusion-research-startups), all without planet-warming carbon pollution.
tesla found it first but we have to deal with the conundrum of abundance. All our systems are based in scarcity and wealth hoarding.
What exactly is the record? Time? So how long did it hold? The article don’t tell what the achievement really is.
Limitless, sure.
[A shortage of tritium fuel may leave fusion energy with an empty tank](https://www.science.org/content/article/fusion-power-may-run-fuel-even-gets-started)
[Nuclear Fusion Is Already Facing a Fuel Crisis](https://www.wired.com/story/nuclear-fusion-is-already-facing-a-fuel-crisis/)
It doesn’t even work yet, but nuclear fusion has encountered a shortage of tritium, the key fuel source for the most prominent experimental reactors.
Let’s say fusion becomes viable tomorrow. How long would it realistically take to integrate it into our existing power grids? Are we talking years, decades, or longer?
This article is a bunch of baloney. The fact that the image is a tokamak and not a mirror is funny, but the claims are just complete pants.
>Basically [u/76vangel](/user/76vangel/) it’s the magnet strength that is the world record
Yeah, but it’s not. [MIT had 20 T in 2021](https://news.mit.edu/2021/MIT-CFS-major-advance-toward-fusion-energy-0908), as part of what is now CFS. TE in England has 18 T. MAGLIF machines use [between 10 and 30](https://fire.pppl.gov/fpa15_MagLIF_Sinars.pdf) T [and have reached 100](https://nationalmaglab.org/about-the-maglab/around-the-lab/meet-the-magnets/meet-the-100-tesla-pulsed-magnet/).
There is nothing interesting that happened in this story. The record they claim is only on their own machine. By that measure, I just set a world record for me sitting in this chair.
There is absolutely no breakthrough here.