Comparatively low-cost nuclear fusion project shows promise after first year of experiments
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3155546/chinese-scientists-strike-early-gold-race-nuclear-fusion-power Via email: Fusion researchers everywhere want more money. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences began their experiments into fusion power last summer. However, the government gave the team just $156 million over 6 years. (The boondoggle) ITER in France will consume $45 to $65 billion (if not more). They wanted to improve on results at the US National Ignition Facility over the summer. So the team needed to figure out how to do it on a tiny budget and with less powerful lasers. Eventually, they turned to a process developed in 1997 by Z Jie, a renowned Chinese physicist. The method involves weaker laser beams aimed at two tiny gold cones. When hit by the lasers, each directs H plasma toward the other. When the plasma beams collide with precisely the right parameters, fusion occurs. While the gold cones vaporize after fusion, the cost will be “e...