<story><title>China’s ‘Artificial Sun’ achieves fusion breakthrough</title><url>http://en.people.cn/n3/2016/1103/c90000-9136786.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>kybernetikos</author><text>I would love to see a huge effort towards fusion, on the same (or even greater) scale as the Manhattan project or the Apollo program.  I had been disappointed in the way that fusion always seemed to be 30 years away no matter how many years went past, but I just assumed that that was because the science was hard and just the way it had to be.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;i.imgur.com&amp;#x2F;sjH5r.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;i.imgur.com&amp;#x2F;sjH5r.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.21stcenturysciencetech.com&amp;#x2F;Articles_2010&amp;#x2F;Winter_2009&amp;#x2F;Who_Killed_Fusion.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.21stcenturysciencetech.com&amp;#x2F;Articles_2010&amp;#x2F;Winter_...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;In 1976, a number of plans for investing in fusion were described, and what actually happened was that less was invested in fusion even than the level at which the program plan predicted we would never achieve fusion.  This is the kind of thing that anyone who cares about humanity in general should find upsetting.&lt;p&gt;Massively abundant, cheap, clean energy should be one of humanity&amp;#x27;s top priorities.&lt;p&gt;Working, economic fusion power has a chance to revolutionize life as we know it. The countries that have access to the technology first will be at the forefront of a huge economic, social, cultural, scientific change.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s more important than going to Mars (and would probably make going to Mars significantly easier).  It&amp;#x27;s more important than nearly anything we&amp;#x27;re working on.</text></comment>
<story><title>China’s ‘Artificial Sun’ achieves fusion breakthrough</title><url>http://en.people.cn/n3/2016/1103/c90000-9136786.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>Trombone12</author><text>Weird, as far as I can tell this result was essentially achieved in February; at least that&amp;#x27;s when the register reported on it: &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.theregister.co.uk&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;06&amp;#x2F;china_shows_how_fusion_is_done&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.theregister.co.uk&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;06&amp;#x2F;china_shows_how_fusi...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;EAST seems to be connected to ITER, and is testing confinement methods like those planned for ITER. Here is an ITER press release about EAST hitting that 32 s H-mode confinement: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.iter.org&amp;#x2F;newsline&amp;#x2F;291&amp;#x2F;1783&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.iter.org&amp;#x2F;newsline&amp;#x2F;291&amp;#x2F;1783&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;And here is a later article about EAST receiving an upgrade and shooting for those 100 seconds in 2014: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.iter.org&amp;#x2F;newsline&amp;#x2F;-&amp;#x2F;1916&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.iter.org&amp;#x2F;newsline&amp;#x2F;-&amp;#x2F;1916&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>