I know we have some nuclear enthusiasts on this list, so thought some of you might be interested in this news report: https://www.energyvoice.com/otherenergy/137847/uk-reactor-takes-first-steps-towards-fusion/

There's a saying in our family that "everything takes longer than you think". They've switched a Tokomak Energy have just switched-on a fusion reactor that they hope will reach 100 million degrees sometime in 2018. This is the temperature you need to sustain a fusion reaction. If this works, they claim they will have a reactor working commercially by 2030.

I've heard the propmises before for most of my life, but as they say, the key to successful forecasting is to forecast often. Eventually it may happen.

The first test will be a bomb. With three times more power than fission power, can the world be trusted with such energy.
Atomic power can not be controlled as it is, do you really think peaceful means will be the end result.
You can guarantee experiments are further advanced than what you ever hear about.
With England France and the USA and no doubt Russia all experimenting I say it is a forgone conclusion their first aim will be for destructive purposes.

Better of with solar power.

Dear Graham,

Eventually it may happen - I agree. However the goal
of fushion energy still needs significant investment.

The company has thus far been able to raise 20 million
pounds from private contributors. Let us trust that
as each milestone and engineering challenge is met
they will be able to garner more financial backing to
continue with the journey.

Of course we have the
additional problem on issues which require radical solutions
that are likely to harm vested economic and political
interests. New ideas, instead of being welcomed for the
opportunities they open up for the improvement of the
human lot, have always been seen as threats to those
who have become comfortable in their ideologies. Let us
hope that this will change in the next decades.

Graham, like the small gold mine I recently worked on in the Ashburton region of WA? Closed down some 10 yrs ago, it has just had $30 Million shovelled into it to get it up and running, with another $40 Million to go. I wondered (whilst welding up rusted out tanks, & corroded pumps etc) at the cost of implementing & using more modern technologies such as biological recovery methods, as opposed to the old school cyanide methods...all of which to get tax breaks and minimise expenditures I suppose.

I still feel that once the fossils with their fossil fuel mentality have had their day, with the last litre of crude oil auctioned off on E-Bay for some ridiculous amount, only then will we see inroads into "renewables, alternates" and their like.

If it actually gets up and running I would applaud all concerned.

doog,
"The first test will be a bomb."

No it won't. Bombs that used nuclear fusion were developed ant tested in the 1950s. But getting the controlled self sustaining nuclear fusion needed for a power station is far more difficult and of no great military advantage.

Even if Australia's better off with solar power, that's of very limited use in England due to its latitude, climate and high population density.

We were gunna have fusion before I left school, then before I left Uni, then before I left work.

I very much doubt it will come before I leave the planet, & with this history, I doubt it will come before my kids leave the planet.

Who cares, we still have plenty of coal, & burning that is like a restoration project. We are restoring the planet's atmosphere balance, & probably only just in time for life as we know it.