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drunkdoor t1_j0s9r4a wrote

Reply to comment by Robo-Connery in National Ignition Facility (NIF) announces net positive energy fusion experiment by Robo-Connery

Is this article completely wrong then by saying the first ever ignition event just happened?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_ignition

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Robo-Connery OP t1_j0uuk42 wrote

Yes that article is completely wrong.

It even clarifies in the first section:

"Ignition should not be confused with breakeven, a similar concept that compares the total energy being given off to the energy being used to heat the fuel."

edit:

it also changes its definition multiple times throughout the article, that article is horrible. The definitions they give means NIF either achieved it on its first ever experiment or it is impossible for NIF to achieve it (id personally say the latter is true) it also claims it is a necessary pre-req for power - not true remotely. It also precludes all tokamaks from ever achieving it due to external heating being used for plasma control and h-mode access even if internal heating is 10 times higher (or 1000 or a billion).

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