technology Germany's Massive Nuclear Fusion machine creates it's first Hydrogen Plasma

[Nuke87654 1,849]

http://www.sciencealert.com/germany-s-massive-nuclear-fusion-machine-just-produced-its-first-hydrogen-plasma

 

According to this, Germany's Wendelstein 7-X (W7X) stellarator managed to create it's first Hydrogen Plasma and sustain it. This is a rather huge step forward for us as this brings us one step closer to being able to get a working Nuclear Fusion reactor, which is the very energy source our sun uses. Achieving this can revolutionize alot of things in our world as this can effectively render the use of fossil fuels, Nuclear Fission, and renewable energy sources as power obsolete and replaced by the far better Nuclear Fusion reactor as not only does it output far more energy than anything we can do, but it's also extremely clean as it does not produce the radioactive waste Nuclear Fission does.

 

I sincerely wish for this to succeed as I want to see a working Nuclear Fusion reactor just to see it revolutionize human society in so many ways.

 

What do you guys think about this?

[Mesme Rize 15,683]

I myself am a big fan of this, considering we are slowly running out of oil in the future, so it's time to search for a good and even better alternative for the future.

 

But at the same time, i can see those big energy corporation quiver in fear of this revolution, since it will make their energy obsolete. They will probably find some sort of excuse, as to why people shouldn't use it.

[Nuke87654 1,849]

I myself am a big fan of this, considering we are slowly running out of oil in the future, so it's time to search for a good and even better alternative for the future.

 

But at the same time, i can see those big energy corporation quiver in fear of this revolution, since it will make their energy obsolete. They will probably find some sort of excuse, as to why people shouldn't use it.

 

It is an unfortunate trend we see all too often in humanity. Anything that threatens their standing, there will be sudden excuses why it is bad even if it's exaggerated or doesn't exist.

[Draxon 214]

Successful nuclear fusion would be a gigantic leap forward, so this is exciting news.  I do agree with Mesme Rize, though, in that the big fossil fuel corporations would see this as a threat.  To be fair, it is, and a lot of people would lose their jobs if suddenly fossil fuels were obsolete (except probably petroleum for automobiles).  Let's hope nuclear fusion can still become a reality in spite of the resistance that's sure to arise.

[Discordian 6,015]

Being nuclear alone is enough to scare the less informed of the masses. The media hypes up nuclear bombs, plants that leak and the possibility of sickness/mutation from being around it all the time. It's not just companies that will be against the use of it.

[Draxon 214]

I found a really great article detailing the challenges involved in the design, manufacture, and construction of the stellarator:

 

http://phys.org/news/2016-02-plasma-physicist-discusses-wendelstein-x.html

 

The tolerances involved are absolutely insane, not to mention the stresses placed on the machine during operation.  It takes a special team of innovative, dedicated, and persistent people to put a project like this together and make it work.

[simba86 1,541]

problem isn't creating the plasma, it's creating more energy than you put into it and holding it together long enough to do it, they have to hold the plasma in the middle of the reactor away from the walls because it's 180 million degrees so it will melt the walls if they don't squeeze it, and hold it with a magnetic field, the big problem has been actually getting the magnetic field perfect to be able to hold the plasma together long enough for fusion to be sustained