Exploring lower cost pathways to economical fusion power

Adjacent Open Access 04/08/17 By: Scott C. Hsu, Ph.D., Los Alamos National Laboratory Figure 1. Photo of the outer (top) and inner (bottom) electrodes of a (disassembled) coaxial plasma gun used to launch supersonic plasma jets in our fusion research. Photo courtesy of HyperV Technologies Corp. The cost of fusion energy development is a significant … Read more

Fusion-fission hybrids: nuclear shortcut or pipe dream?

power-technology.com BY CHRIS LO ON AUG 7 2017 While nuclear fusion’s key milestones remain elusive, could fusion-fission hybrid reactors represent the best of both worlds? Start-up Apollo Fusion aims to make this complex concept a commercial reality, but formidable obstacles remain. With waste and safety concerns holding back global nuclear uptake, there is increased attention … Read more

Simulations Show How Recycled Atoms Boost Plasma Turbulence

nersc AUGUST 7, 2017 Contact: Kathy Kincade, kkincade@lbl.gov, +1 510 495 2124 XGC1 Gyrokinetic Particle Code Opens New Doors in Fusion Research Plasma density fluctuation in a tokamak plasma turbulence driven by ion temperature gradient. The green line shows the magnetic separatrix surface that contains the edge plasma pedestal within a few centimeters from it. … Read more

Metal cloud to protect fusion reactor walls

Phys.org August 7, 2017 A thin vapour cloud in front of a liquid metal may be the solution to protecting the reactor walls of future fusion power plants to the extreme heat fluxes encountered. In Nature Communications, PhD candidate Stein van Eden and colleagues at DIFFER and Ghent University presents measurements of a vapour cloud … Read more

How to keep superhot plasma from chirping

Quest 2017 Graduate student Vinícius Duarte. (Photo by Elle Starkman/ PPPL) “Chirp, chirp, chirp.” The familiar sound of birds is also what researchers call a wave in plasma that breaks from a single note into rapidly changing notes. This behavior, which often has frequencies far above what the human ear can hear, can cause heat … Read more

Let’s build the big lid of the Tokamak bioshield

Fusion for Energy 03 August 2017 The first beam of the temporary lid has been installed at level L1. Work performed by Martifer, subcontractor of VFR consortium, Tokamak Complex, ITER construction site, August 2017 © ITER IO One of the most visual elements of the ITER construction site is the bioshield of the Tokamak complex, … Read more

Laboratory heads project that could lead to method for optimizing long-pulse plasmas

Quest 2017 PPPL is principal investigator for a multi-institutional project to study plasma-material interaction on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) in China. The three-year project will test the ability of lithium to protect the EAST walls and prevent impurities from bouncing back into the core of the plasma and halting fusion reactions. PPPL will … Read more

So there I was, firing a megawatt plasma collider at work…

Googleblog Tuesday, July 25, 2017 Posted by Ted Baltz, Senior Staff Software Engineer, Google Accelerated Science Team Wait, what? Why is Google interested in plasma physics? Google is always interested in solving complex engineering problems, and few are more complex than fusion. Physicists have been trying since the 1950s to control the fusion of hydrogen … Read more

F4E Director cuts the ribbon of ITER Poloidal Field coil feeder in ASIPP

Fusion for Energy 27 July 2017 Representatives from China and Europe at the ceremony for the completion of the ITER Poloidal Field (PF) coil feeder manufactured in China The success of ITER lies on the good collaboration between the seven Parties striving to deliver fusion energy. Building a stronger and deeper partnership with all countries … Read more