this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2026
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[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 148 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (6 children)

Just a few years ago US labs were the first to generate more power than they put into a fusion reactor, it was one of the most important breakthroughs to date in fusion.

Even under the shitheap Trump, the US is continuing to research into fusion and building stellarators such as Infinity 1 in Tennessee.

Europe likewise is leading breakthroughs such as with Wendelstein 7-X stellarator in Germany lasting for 43 seconds. This is being improved with the new Proxima Alpha stellarator being built.

China’s EAST reactor had a breakthrough when they achieved 1,000 seconds last year. While Europes recent ITER tokamak should be achieving its first plasma in the coming years.

Fusion is a global effort, and scientists are benefiting from the works being put in elsewhere. Stellarators and Tokamak are both breaking new grounds each year, and each has their own pros and cons.

Don’t fall for any propaganda trying to claim anyone is “winning”.

[–] green_red_black@slrpnk.net 1 points 5 hours ago

While we maybe researching and contributing into Fusion we are not at all looking into making use for the energy grid. At most just if it can be used for the Data Centers

(Which is yes we could but I think providing free energy for homes is a better use you ask me.)

[–] thorhop@sopuli.xyz 2 points 8 hours ago

These comment sections can be a place of puerility and defeatism. Thanks for being the difference.

[–] hanrahan@piefed.social 7 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

it was one of the most important breakthroughs to date in fusion

What ? It was not really. Here's a physicist discussing why.

https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2023/08/fusion-foolery/

In the end, the NIF fusion accomplishment might be called a stunt. Stunts explore what we can do (often after an insane amount of preparation, practice, and failure), rather than what’s practical. Stunts hide the pains and present an appearance of ease and grace, but it’s a show.

The “more energy out than laser energy in” equation masks several fundamental problems. NIF’s doped glass lasers have an efficiency of about 0.5 percent, meaning that they would have sucked in roughly 400 megajoules of energy from the grid in order to produce the 2.1 megajoules of light energy…

To be fair the hype machine was from the press not the scientists

Let’s pause to say: well done! Honestly. No sarcasm. What they did was ridiculously hard, and it finally worked after more than a decade of trying. They actually produced a significant number of fusion events! There’s no faking that, and I’d like to see you try. So let’s be clear that I’m not knocking the accomplishment in itself. My major beef is how we interpret the implications for society.

[–] Daft_ish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 9 hours ago

Stunts also draw attention to stuff. Its yet to be seen if its a net positive but it did help me get up to speed on the current state of fusion technology.

[–] coredev@programming.dev 2 points 19 hours ago

Thanks for your positive and refreshing comment ❤️

[–] HazardousBanjo@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

I'm assuming the sole reason the Orange cunt hasn't destroyed the US's fusion research is because he wants to give exclusive rights to build and use it to ~~Vault-Tech~~ the tech broligarchs who bribe him.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca -2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's still decades to never from being practical.

[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 17 points 1 day ago

It always will be until the day it isn't. Breakthrough's cannot be timelined or predicted.