Thangam Debbonaire MP Explores Nuclear Fusion at the Culham Centre

Industry and Parliament Trust Thangam Debbonaire, MP for Bristol West visited the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA) Culham Science Centre on Friday 09 March 2018, to learn about the viability of nuclear fusion as a potential energy source, as part of her Industry and Parliament Trust (IPT) Fellowship* exploring renewable energy. The visit was organised … Read more

Laser-heated nanowires produce micro-scale nuclear fusion

Record-setting efficiency for generation of neutrons Science News Date: March 14, 2018 Source: Colorado State University Summary: Nuclear fusion, the process that powers our sun, happens when nuclear reactions between light elements produce heavier ones. It’s also happening — at a smaller scale — in a lab. Using a compact but powerful laser to heat … Read more

Nuclear Energy Scientists Think They’ve Solved the Mystery of Building Efficient Fusion Power Plants

Newsweek Meghan Bartels On 3/9/18 Every commercial nuclear power plant on the planet right now runs on fission, splitting giant atoms into smaller ones and harnessing the energy that break-down releases. But there’s another way to make nuclear energy—fusion, smooshing two tiny atoms together. And scientists at MIT are launching a new fusion power initiative … Read more

A new era in fusion research at MIT

MIT Francesca McCaffrey March 9, 2018 A new chapter is beginning for fusion energy research at MIT. This week the Italian energy company Eni, a founding member of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), announced it has reached an agreement with MIT to fund fusion research projects run out of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion … Read more

The Energy 202: Trump administration must decide whether to back the biggest nuclear fusion project ever

Washington Post Dino Grandoni | March 7, 2018 Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the retiring chair of the House Science Committee, has rarely been in agreement with Democrats. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) The House Science, Space and Technology Committee is known for its partisan bickering. Under Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), Republicans opened probes into … Read more

International nuclear fusion project seeks reversal of Trump budget cuts

Reuters March 6, 2018 FILE PHOTO – A man walks past a block of stone with the name of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) organization headquarters in Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, Southern France, October 6, 2016. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier Bernard Bigot, director-general of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project, or ITER, said the administration’s budget cuts would reduce … Read more

Introduction to fusion

CCFE Nuclear fusion is one of the most promising options for generating large amounts of carbon-free energy in the future. Illustration of the fusion reaction Fusion is the process that heats the Sun and all other stars, where atomic nuclei collide together and release energy (in the form of neutrons, see diagram on the right). … Read more

Scientists observe a new quantum particle with properties of ball lightning

Science Daily Date: March 2, 2018 Source: Aalto University Summary: Scientists have created, for the first time a three-dimensional skyrmion in a quantum gas. The skyrmion was predicted theoretically over 40 years ago, but only now has it been observed experimentally. This knotted skyrmion may provide insight into a stable ball of plasma that could … Read more