What I can't figure out is, how any of these fusion technologies can possibly be "scaled up" for commercial power generation.
You don't get it. The important thing is that it requires huge investment and will only
be commercially viable when 'scaled up'. That way it remains in the hands of 'big energy' and can make a few individuals incredibly rich while poor consumers foot the bill.
Just imagine if all this research effort had been put into renewable energy and storage that works at all scales. Power generation could become decentralized with individual households all contributing and benefiting from it. Capitalists hate that communist model. They want us to be mere consumers so they can continue exploiting us and become even richer!
But we aren't close to that anyway, and probably never will be. This latest announcement is just more smoke and mirrors. It's a simple scam - keep stringing everybody along (including naive investors and even 'big energy' itself ) while you make big bucks doing research with no hope of a return. And the news media is complicant:-
The Globe and Mail said:
Fusion breakthrough could be climate, energy game-changer
Er, no - it won't be.
While the announcement does not immediately change the timeline for when fusion could be made practical, it adds to the growing sense of momentum in a field long regarded as offering a scientifically feasible but technically challenging solution to the world’s energy needs.
Keeping the scam rolling!
Thanks to public excitement and the urgent need to cut fossil fuel emissions that drive climate change, the development could indirectly boost prospects for several private companies that are working on quicker pathways to commercial fusion power.
Well that's a relief. Here we were getting all anxious about global warming and having to cut back on burning filthy fossil fuels, but now we can relax and carry on with business as usual because
private companies are getting it sorted. The Invisible Hand of the Market always provides!
Now that a net energy gain has been achieved with the target, researchers said the next step is making the process more efficient and easily reproduced.
No, it hasn't! You can't just look at one tiny part of the process and ignore the rest! ("Oh yes we can - just watch us...").
“A few decades of research on the underlying technologies could put us in a position to build a power plant,” said Kim Budil, director of the laboratory.
Aha, the real goal of this 'experiment' - another few decades of funding! Meanwhile the temperature and damage continues to rise. We don't
have another few decades to piss away on diversions like this.
