Fusion Hope, or Fusion Hype?

I’ve seen this cycle in the past – new breakthroughs ballyhooed, lots of articles, and then… nothing. It always occurs when it looks likely that someone actually might start building a new nuclear fission energy plant

Fusion Hope or Fusion Hype?

Glen Reynolds has covered a couple of new fusion developments at Instapundit, and they are definitely interesting, but those hoping for fusion sometime soon might be disillusioned.

I’ve seen this cycle in the past – new breakthroughs ballyhooed, lots of articles, and then… nothing. It always occurs when it looks likely that someone actually might start building a new nuclear fission energy plant, and several of these are on the skids for consideration now. So while I’m hoping for a game changing breakthrough, I’m not counting on one.

Rod Adams, who like I has a bias for off-the-shelf Fission, covers this from a different angle.

If you are hoping for fusion sometime this decade or next, you shouldn’t start holding your breath yet. We do need to keep researching Fusion for energy needs of the latter half of this century, we need to up our Kardashev rating quickly to cope with the coming 9 billion human souls and their needs.