A lot of fusion scientists would argue that we have never funded fusion to the extent that it deserves to be funded. The US Department of Energy did a study back in the 70s looking at the different pathways towards achieving energy positive fusion. We're making good progress on the science and understanding things very well, but we can't take that step to really see if we can make an energy source out of it. So like the fusion reaction itself, we've never really invested enough to trigger an ignition. That's right. We just need to put enough dollars in to enable that ignition to happen.
Back in January, we spoke to a scientist at the National Ignition Facility about how close they were to achieving what’s been called “one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century.” This week, they announced they’ve finally done it.
A version of this episode originally ran on January 5, 2022.
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