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US scientists achieve net energy gain for second time in a fusion reaction
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
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It depends on if the full charge is needed to sustain the reaction or if it is only needed to start the reaction. If it's only needed to start the reaction and it can be self-sustaining after the reaction is started, then they only need to charge them one time. This isn't just hype. As far as I know, this is the first time that claims of successful safe fusion have been reproduced. In the past when they've claimed to have achieved fusion and then couldn't repeat it, that was hype. This is progress. Rome wasn't built in a day.
From what's read, those capacitors are needed to run the high wattage lasers, i.e. they need the charge to be stable and attempt to sustain self-sustaining reactions, the time they get for the reaction is the time it takes the capacitors to discharge. Doesn't seem like any of the headlines are doing anything but baseless hype acting like we have a reaction that created more enegry than was used to create it. Sure repeating the same reaction is progress but that's not what is being sensationalized, the cherry picked energy consumption vs production stats is and its extremely misleading.