We’ll never achieve unlimited energy. And for that perhaps we should be grateful.
By Crawford Kilian, The Tyee
The media went wild on Dec. 13 when American scientists and officials reported the first instance of hydrogen fusion that actually produced more energy than they had pumped into it. By slamming hydrogen atoms together inside a tiny diamond shell, the force of 192 high-powered lasers had created helium and 3.15 megajoules of excess energy — “the equivalent,” according to one report, “of about three sticks of dynamite.”

The test had been conducted on Dec. 5 at the National Ignition Facility of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, east of the San Francisco Bay Area. The NIF promptly issued a long news release praising the scientists “whose work will help us solve humanity’s most complex and pressing problems, like providing clean power to combat climate change and maintaining a nuclear deterrent without nuclear testing.”
That nuclear-deterrent line said the quiet part out loud, just as a U.S. government official had in the press conference about the test. Marvin Adams, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s deputy director for defense programs, made it clear at the press conference that this and future tests would help in the design of better nuclear weapons, thereby enhancing the credibility of U.S. deterrence. Oh, and yes, we might someday see “basically unlimited” carbon-free energy.
Recent Posts
Buttigieg Has A Flip-Flop Problem That Could Hurt In 2028
September 2, 2025
Take Action Now Buttigieg, appearing on “Pod Save America,” avoided taking a position on whether the U.S. should continue with shipping arms to…
Support For Labor Unions Near Historic High As Trump Trashes Working Class
September 2, 2025
Take Action Now “Working people want unions and the numbers prove it,” says one labor leader. “While billionaires and their yes-men…
Into The Uncanny Valley: Human-AI War Machines
September 2, 2025
Take Action Now Are military AIs more ethical than biological soldiers?By Peter Byrne, Project Censored In 1757, British philosopher David Hume…
These Billionaires Have Already Spent $19 Million In A Bid To Defeat Mamdani
August 31, 2025
Take Action Now Michael Bloomberg and anti-DEI pundit Bill Ackman are just two of the many billionaires showering cash on Cuomo.By Mike Ludwig,…