It takes about that time for good whiskey to mature. Coincidence ? =:)

How 'miniature suns' could provide cheap, clean energy - 16 November 2018
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46219656

We're just five years away from harnessing almost unlimited power from "miniature suns", some start-ups say: nuclear fusion reactors that could provide abundant, cheap and clean energy.

In a world of global warming caused by our addiction to fossil fuels, there is an urgent need to find sustainable alternative sources of energy. If we don't, the future looks decidedly bleak for millions of people on this planet: water and food shortages leading to famine and war.

Nuclear fusion has long been heralded as a potential answer to our prayers. But it's always been "thirty years away", according to the industry joke. Now several start-ups are saying they can make fusion a commercial reality much sooner.

Billionaire-Backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures Makes 7 More Investments - October 01, 2018
The fund started by Bill Gates backs R&D into fusion power, capturing water from the air and carbon in concrete, and other long-range efforts.
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/billionaire-backed-breakthrough-energy-ventures-makes-7-more-investments

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http://www.b-t.energy/
https://www.cfs.energy/
http://www.psfc.mit.edu/research/topics/sparc

How Close Are We to Fusion Energy? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW_YCWLyv6A Aug 16, 2018
Fusion: How to Put the Sun in a Magnetic Bottle - with Ian Chapman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn1SJOPgewo

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Apr 3, 1999 - May 3, 2020

Bah Humbug ! This fiction is harder to stamp out than the ancient aliens built the pyramids. It seems to me that there is no commercial, economic reason to pursue fusion for commercial power production. Unlimited energy is more readily possible from breeder reactors, plutonium and thorium. We haven't done much with these more attainable technologies. I can't imagine the liability of having a run-away fusion reaction when the magnetic field breaks down or radiation leaks from the steam system.

Fusion is interesting for sure for research and the BOMB.

Let's all make predictions that we will have commercial fusion power by the end of the century. Chances are no one will be around to point out our stupidity.

Oh

yawn

I do agree that progress has been made, because when I was young, fusion power was perpetually 30 years away. but now it's perpetually 15 years away. Progress! :^)

//ducks out of thread
///It would be wonderful if it was actually achieved, especially for our long-term viability as a technological and eventually interplanetary species, so I do hope the research continues apace.

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According to "Nature" the USA will again support the building of ITER with 132 million USD financing in 2019.
Tullio

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According to "Nature" the USA will again support the building of ITER with 132 million USD financing in 2019.
Tullio

I wouldn't bet on that happening with the lunatic in charge over there ATM buddy. ;-)

Cheers.

The Joint European Torus in Culham, UK, will be financed until March by the European Community. After that, all depends on the Brexit agreement (or non agreement).
Tullio

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Brexit brings nuclear (con)fusion:)
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00046-8
The Joint European Torus (JET) near Oxford, UK, is testing technologies for the world’s largest nuclear-fusion experiment, ITER, which is being built in southern France.
Although it remains possible for the EU to keep funding JET in a ‘no deal’ Brexit, it is unclear whether this would happen.

I have written a chapter on fusion research on the Enciclopedia della Fisica, Roberto Fieschi ed, ISEDI, Milano, 1976 and although it has so far not produced any working reactor, I still think it is a worthwhile research field. In 1969 while at Trieste International Center for Theoretical Physics now called Abdus Salam I have talked with professor Bruno Coppi, the father of ALCATOR at MIT. I know he was engaged with the Russian Kurchatov Institute in Moscow on a project called IGNITOR but I don't have any news on it.
Tullio

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Latest news from IGNATOR seems to be from 2017 but it looks like the project is defunkt.
https://www.cremlin.eu/news/2017/meeting_on_russian_italian_ignitor_tokamak_project_at_desy/
(2010) Italy and Russia revive Ignitor
http://www2.lns.mit.edu/ignitorproject/Ignitor@MIT/Fact_Sheet.html
https://www.iter.org/newsline/131/169

How does Ignitor relate to ITER? "It is another option that is worth pursuing," says Azizov, a Member of the ITER Science and Technology Advisory Committe (STAC).
Despite a recent headline in NatureNews the Italian-Russian venture does not aim "to rival ITER."
Bruno Coppi was quoted in MIT News saying "there's no competition, we are complementary."

I think IGNITOR was more a political project due to the friendship between Silvio Berlusconi and Vladimir Putin than a science project.
Tullio

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The new Hinckley Point C nuclear power station is a reactor based on fission, which will produce 7% of UK electricity, and provide power to 22% (6m) of Britain's homes when it starts to produce power in 2025.

Britain’s first new nuclear power station in more than 20 years will contain the industry’s most cutting-edge technology. Hinkley Point C on the Somerset coast will feature two European pressurised reactors (EPRs) designed to be safer, more reliable and more fuel efficient than anything that has gone before. The EPR has been developed by the French companies EDF and Areva. A variant of the pressurised water reactor, it will work in the same fundamental way as previous generations of the device: nuclear fission triggers a chain reaction, producing energy. Water is then heated, producing steam that turns turbines and generates electricity.

The technology behind the reactors is meant to be safer than any previous design. Taking lessons from the past – such as 9/11 or the nuclear disaster at Fukushima – EDF claims the EPR is highly resistant to external hazards, with a reinforced core designed to withstand plane crashes, earthquakes and extreme flooding.

Hinckley Point C

Hitachi says that the project is suspended.
Tullio

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Hitachi says that the project is suspended.

Really?? Got a link or something? I am a bit surprised at that news.

I think Tullio is referring to the proposed nuclear power station at Wylfa on Anglesey in north Wales.
Hitachi set to cancel plans for £16bn nuclear power station in Wales
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/11/hitachi-cancel-plans-nuclear-power-station-angelsey-wales
Hinkley Point C nuclear power station (HPC) is a project to construct a 3,200 MWe nuclear power station with two EPR reactors in Somerset, England.
Hitachi is for all I know not involved in that project.

http://www.ansa.it/canale_ambiente/notizie/energia/2019/01/11/hitachi-pronta-a-stop-costruzione-centrale-nucleare-in-gb_52a3bd88-7c09-4626-af85-297f304ae966.html
That is alla I know
Tullio

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Did it satisfy Lawson's criterion? If yes, he deserves a Nobel prize. If not, it is just a toy.
Tullio

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I predict that we will have fusion power on the grid by the end of this century. I am confident that no one will find me wrong in this prediction. Alas, by then no one will be able to find me at all. No one, most likely, will be able to find anyone who remembers this prediction either by then. LOL

As I have often stated : Fusion Power is the energy source of the future--it will always be so.

I always like responding to my own posts--people of my age often talk to themselves. I was just wondering why not and when are we going to get solar panels in the form of normal looking roof shingles. I would also expect there to be new building codes of suggestions for roof angle and orientation based on Latitude. I would also like to know if cleaning them would be a problem or if there would be a new industry of solar roof washers.

Efficiencies are getting better and costs are coming down in the solar industries. It's hard to predict breakthroughs but I can see this happening fairly soon. Let's not let this get off to China--we need an Elon Musk to emerge at say Georgia Pacific , GAF Atlas etc.

https://www.foxnews.com/science/teen-builds-working-nuclear-fusion-reactor-in-memphis-home

I have seen there is also one other teen that do the same experiments in his parents' garage in the US.
Nice hobby.
But question is do they get any net power?
Is it scalable?
Where did they get the deuterium and tritium from?