Saturday, January 30, 2010

Some Hopeful News

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk
NIF target chamber (LLNL)

A major hurdle to producing fusion energy using lasers has been swept aside, results in a new report show.

The controlled fusion of atoms - creating conditions like those in our Sun - has long been touted as a possible revolutionary energy source.

However, there have been doubts about the use of powerful lasers for fusion energy because the "plasma" they create could interrupt the fusion.

An article in Science showed the plasma is far less of a problem than expected.

The report is based on the first experiments from the National Ignition Facility (Nif) in the US that used all 192 of its laser beams.

I wonder what premise the watermelons will use to ban this if it proves out? You can count on them having one.