this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2025
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https://interestingengineering.com/energy/steam-driven-nuclear-fusion-reactor

"In a global first, Richmond, Canada-headquartered fusion energy company General Fusion achieved the first-ever plasma in a reactor driven by steam."

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 3 days ago (4 children)

It is somewhat bewildering to realize that we have come all this way in technology but somewhere something is always turning water into steam to drive a piston of some sort.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Which is exactly why when Einstein got the Nobel Prize when he discovered the photoelectric! Kind of a big deal when basically everything before that was turbine driven, as you mention.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Everything before that and almost everything after that.

The only exception i know is fermenting biomass to methane and burning it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

There's actually a company called Helion which is trying to skip the steam turbine step completely with fusion energy. Although generally speaking you're correct, they're kind of the exception that proves the rule.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 3 days ago (3 children)

All power is steam power, fossil fuels are burned to boil water. Heck nuclear reactors are also just boiling water to create steam.

It's all Steampunk but we grew out of our punk phase :P

[–] [email protected] 37 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Solar photovoltaic doesn't involve steam. We can be solarpunk as well!

I guess hydro-power uses steam in the global water cycle so I'll give you that. Radio-Thermal Generators are all solid state, but not much power on earth comes from them.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago

Wind turbines as well.

Unless you count the humidity in the air.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

And thermopiles.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Solar is (usually) not. Couldn't fit a steam turbine in a calculator.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Time to invent one xD

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago

"Couldn't fit a steam turbine in a calculator."

Not with that attitude you can't.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

Loads of fossil power use gas turbines that do not involve steam :x

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

Was an old joke.

I invented a revolutionary new power generation!

"is it actually new or just steam"

".... steam".