Latest update from Alan Boyle

[rschaffer8]

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science- ... ss-n370131

[Diogenes]

From the Article.

Who will sail past the break-even point and onward to commercialization first? As you'd expect, Park thinks it could be EMC2 Fusion. "It's not unrealistic to expect to have a working prototype and get ready for practical fusion in the next 10 years or so," he said.

Fusion seems always ten years away.

[hanelyp]

10 years ago fusion was 20 years away. We seem to be getting closer with the recent surge in small innovative concepts.

[mvanwink5]

Nice to see Alan write a new fusion article. I wonder what triggered it?

[mvanwink5]

This article may have been the trigger:
June 2, 2015
UW researchers scaling up fusion hopes with DOE grant
by Jennifer Langston
http://www.washington.edu/news/2015/06/ ... doe-grant/

[TheRadicalModerate]

This article may have been the trigger:
June 2, 2015
UW researchers scaling up fusion hopes with DOE grant
by Jennifer Langston
http://www.washington.edu/news/2015/06/ ... doe-grant/

Here are the slides linked to in the press release.

This thing looks... kinda interesting. At the very least, it looks cheap. No pesky magnets, and mostly a nice, clear path to the neutron blanket (if they ever get that far, of course).

[derg]

10 years ago fusion was 20 years away. We seem to be getting closer with the recent surge in small innovative concepts.

We are so now 19 years away...

But seriously, it has always been premature to talk with sensationalism about saving the world with fusion...the sober reality is that fusion is at TRL 6, so the enthusiasts/entrepreneurs merely need to be referred to the TRL scale, and what it means.

[Giorgio]

This article may have been the trigger:
June 2, 2015
UW researchers scaling up fusion hopes with DOE grant
by Jennifer Langston
http://www.washington.edu/news/2015/06/ ... doe-grant/

Thanks for posting it, this is really really interesting and an elegant idea indeed.

[JohnP]

Not to disparage UW in any way, though local politics (Scott Walker & Friends) have been putting them thru the wringer:

http://host.madison.com/news/local/educ ... cc909.html

[Maui]

... different UW...

[JohnP]

Oops. I saw UW and assumed it was the Madison plasma folks...

[kunkmiester]

There's University of Wyoming, University of Wisconsin, and University of Washington. Did I miss any UWs?

[Ivy Matt]

This article may have been the trigger:
June 2, 2015
UW researchers scaling up fusion hopes with DOE grant
by Jennifer Langston
http://www.washington.edu/news/2015/06/ ... doe-grant/

From the article:

The team plans to build a new Z-pinch device at the UW by summer of 2016 and run its first fusion tests in 2017.

What is with 2017? Everybody seems to be aiming for something in 2017.

[mvanwink5]

The new fringe fusion rule, results must be after O.