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Nuclear fusion: new record brings dream of clean energy closer (www.bbc.com)

submitted 8 months ago by Ninjazzon@infosec.pub to c/science@lemmy.ml

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The new world record has been set at the UK-based JET laboratory.

The result came from the lab's final experiment after more than 40 years of fusion research.

The experiments produced 69 megajoules of energy over five seconds. That is only enough energy for four to five hot baths - so not a lot.

It is clear we are still a long way off from nuclear fusion power plants, but with every experiment it is bringing us one step closer.

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[–] Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml 1 points 8 months ago

10 more years, babyeeeeee-!

[–] FaceDeer@kbin.social 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I have to throw a little water on the "clean" part of the claim, unfortunately. JET does deuterium/tritium fusion, which produces neutron radiation that causes the lining of the reactor to become radioactive. The lining needs to be replaced every once in a while, producing nuclear waste.

[–] heckypecky@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 8 months ago

While true, that is misleading. The nuclear waste produced will be radioactive for some decades, in contrast to the waste products from nuclear fission, which stay radioactive virtually forever. Most people think of fission waste if you don't specify and thus make fusion waste far scarier than it actually is.