The energy from the nuclear fusion experiment was a tiny fraction of the energy put into the experiment.
The Real Fusion Energy Breakthrough Is Still Decades Away. US nuclear
scientists have achieved the long-sought goal of a fusion ignition—but
don’t expect this clean technology to power the grid yet.
To fusion scientists like Mark Cappelli, a physicist at Stanford University who
wasn’t involved in the research, it’s a thrilling result. But he
cautions that those pinning hopes on fusion as an abundant, carbon-free,
and waste-free power source in the near future may be left waiting.
The difference, he says, is in how scientists define breakeven. Today, the NIF
researchers said they got as much energy out as their laser fired at the
experiment—a massive, long-awaited achievement.
But the problem is that
the energy in those lasers represents a tiny fraction of the total power
involved in firing up the lasers. By that measure, NIF is getting way less
than it’s putting in. “That type of breakeven is way, way, way, way
down the road,” Cappelli says. “That’s decades down the road. Maybe
even a half-century down the road.”
Wired 13th Dec 2022
https://www.wired.com/story/the-real-fusion-energy-breakthrough-is-still-decades-away/
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