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by NotYourLawyer 1276 days ago
>will

And there’s the problem right there. Inertial confinement will never lead to electricity generation.

2 comments

It might. I think most people expect tokomaks to be more practical, but generating power from inertial confinement is at least theoretically possible. It might even be reasonably cost-effective if someone can figure out how to manufacture the hohlraums/fuel capsules cheaply.
Big if. Chemical problems seem harder than nuclear ones. Less absolute science, more a matter of getting lucky.
This is ACTUALLY what science is. Discovery.
Is that relevant? I think the point is that ignition has been demonstrated. That gives people confidence that it is possible and can only accelerate research.
That thermonuclear ignition can be technologically achieved has, unfortunately, already been demonstrated. It has not yet been demonstrated in a way that seems to be leading to practical power production, and that goes for this result, too.

Lawrence Livermore director Kim Budil is being misleading in saying that this is necessary first step. Ignition will be a necessary step along the path to practical fusion power generation (if it can be achieved), but it is far from clear that inertial fusion is on that path.