Quote Originally Posted by Papewaio View Post
Note that we have working fusion in labs. However the net amount of energy is negative... we can fuse atoms, just the energy we make is less then we put in. Fission (splitting atoms) could be much more widely available and would make an ideal base load provider whilst creating minimum waste. With the intermittent power supplies (wind, water, sunlight) we can solve a lot of these issues with better batteries and/or capacitors (not just electrical but mechanical ones ... like the London Bridge has).
I thought the issue with ITER was the damage caused by the fusion/stray plasma streams, which caused problems which needed a technological workaround, not the fact it doesn't supply surplus power.