
Nuclear Fusion Has Broken Even For the First Time Ever - amazedsaint
http://gizmodo.com/nuclear-fusion-has-broken-even-for-the-first-time-ever-1442376955?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
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SEMW
"the amount of energy released through the fusion reaction exceeded the amount
of energy being absorbed by the fuel" isn't breakeven. The fuel doesn't absorb
anywhere near 100% of the energy put in. They're nowhere near breakeven.

From the actual announcement[1]: "The NIF laser focuses 1.7 megajoules of UV
light onto the cylinder, or hohlraum, that contains the fuel. Only a few
kilojoules of that energy actually winds up in the plasma. "Most of the energy
that the laser transfers is wasted on heating up the gold hohlraum, then
heating up the plastic, and only a very small fraction of the energy actually
heats up the thermonuclear fuel," says Betti."

[1]
[http://www.physicstoday.org/daily_edition/politics_and_polic...](http://www.physicstoday.org/daily_edition/politics_and_policy/lab_reports_big_advance_in_laser_fusion_quest?type=PTFAVE)

