In six years humans will have FUSION power

[snooper2]

Delivery for the first completed components from around the World for ITER starts this year


Fusion baby- glad it's happening in my lifetime

ITER- in five minutes

[Trajan]

1. said somebody in the 70's ...

[snooper2]

3. I take it you didn't watch the video

it's okay, the folks at ITER know what they are doing and probably don't need any external "moral support"

[Xipe Totec]

4. In six years we find out if it's going to work or not.

That's not the same as being six years away from having fusion power.

[snooper2]

9. well the science is pretty strong here, it's not like 34 countries are contributing just for fun

[Xipe Totec]

13. Science is all about trial and error

This is engineering, of course, not science. So that makes it more likely to succeed.

But the opera ain't over till the fat Tokamak sings.

[Octafish]

2. Sure. And nuclear missiles can be stopped once launched.

We're gonna build a huge big space shield, with laser beams and everything, see, and it'll work every time probably and have the U.S. taxpayers for it for sure.

[sharp_stick]

5. Exactly

just like when they said they were going to land a man on the moon back in the 60's.

[Octafish]

12. Not exactly.

They figured out how to do that. What's more, they accounted for every penny spent and shared with the world the results of the investment by the US taxpayer.

Star Wars, not so much.

[William769]

6. We have FUSION power today.

I have been in some public restrooms!

[Fearless]

8. Eww!

[NuclearDem]

10. Bad William! Bad!

[JHB]

7. Then I will wave a flag and say "yay" in six years

If this can overcome the difficulties past attempts have had, great!

But to borrow from Yogi Berra, it ain't successful until it's successful.

[Xithras]

11. ITER is a very expensive but short lived demonstration. There's still a long way to go.

ITER's own designers concede that it won't last long. The reactor works by initiating fusion to create helium and free neutrons. The massively energetic free neutrons escape the magnetic fields and slam into the outer wall, creating heat. We capture the heat and convert it into electricity.

The problem is that the massive neutron bombardment and thermal conversion is hugely destructive to the outer wall. It's so destructive, in fact, that the entire reactor is only designed to produce power for five minutes.

The purpose of ITER is to demonstrate that it is actually possible to generate substantially more power than you put into the machine. That, they hope, will generate enough interest to secure the funding needed to solve the rest of the problems.

The current plant for ITER, btw, is that they'll actually be doing the full fusion runs in 2027. Because the full fusion reaction will destroy the machine, they will be doing various plasma and load experiments on it for many years before they reach that stage.

[Motown_Johnny]

14. Don't hold your breath

I agree that the technology should be developed, it is just not clear yet that it is possible.

The theory is sound, but there is no guarantee that a net energy gain can be achieved. Or if it is achieved it may not be enough to make it economically feasible.


Someone new makes these claims every decade or so. Every time it is more promising than the last, and maybe someday we will get there. It is even possible that this demonstration might be the one to show that it is possible. Even so, don't hold your breath.

Solar and wind are proven technologies. This isn't.

[Logical]

15. I will bet you money it is not in commercial use in 6 years! nt

[dembotoz]

16. and it will power my flying car and if the gop wins in 2016 we will switch back to coal

the last part is accurate