Korean fusion reactor achieves record plasma

Korean fusion reactor achieves record plasma

WNN 14 December 2016 The Korean Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) tokamak-type nuclear fusion reactor has achieved a world record of 70 seconds in high-performance plasma operation, South Korea’s National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI) has announced. The KSTAR tokamak (Image: NFRI) The institute, based at Daejeon, 160 km south of Seoul, said a fully non-inductive … Read more

‘Star in a Jar’ Fusion Reactor Works and Promises Infinite Energy

‘Star in a Jar’ Fusion Reactor Works and Promises Infinite Energy

seeker.com Dec 7, 2016 New tests verify that Germany’s Wendelstein 7-X fusion energy device is on track to safely suspend plasma in magnetic fields. For several decades now, scientists from around the world have been pursuing a ridiculously ambitious goal: They hope to develop a nuclear fusion reactor that would generate energy in the same … Read more

Magnetic reconnection research sheds light on explosive phenomena in astrophysics and fusion experiments

Magnetic reconnection research sheds light on explosive phenomena in astrophysics and fusion experiments

PPPL By John Greenwald | December 8, 2016 Challenging process that occurs throughout the universe now better understood (Photo by Elle Starkman/Office of Communications; photo courtesy of University of Wisconsin-Madison) Physicists Masaaki Yamada and Ellen Zweibel Scientists are closer than ever to unraveling a process called magnetic reconnection that triggers explosive phenomena throughout the universe. … Read more

Plasma guns fire into the race for fusion

Plasma guns fire into the race for fusion

Dr. Scott Hsu and Dr. F. Douglas Witherspoon Developing a cheaper, faster pathway to economical fusion power Dr. Scott Hsu is a fusion physics research scientist interested in obtaining cost efficient, clean energy for the world. His work, pursued with Dr. F. Douglas Witherspoon and others, focuses on plasma-implosion research for an alternate-fusion approach. Read … Read more

China one step closer to harnessing clean, limitless energy from nuclear fusion

China one step closer to harnessing clean, limitless energy from nuclear fusion

South China Morning Post | Thursday, 08 December, 2016 China acknowledged as global leader in the field and world’s only nation increasing funding into research to draw energy from ‘artificial sun’ On a quiet, scenic peninsula jutting out into Hefei’s Dongpu Reservoir, physicists recently set a world record, creating hydrogen plasma, hotter than the core … Read more

Synopsis: Starting Fluid for Laser Fusion

Synopsis: Starting Fluid for Laser Fusion

Physics December 7, 2016 A laser-based fusion experiment demonstrates that liquid fuel capsules could rectify problems encountered with ice-based fuel capsules. Don Jedlovec/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory The strategy of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is to use high-power lasers to rapidly heat and compress a hydrogen fuel capsule. The fuel is typically frozen, but new work … Read more

PPPL and Max Planck physicists confirm the precision of magnetic fields in the most advanced stellarator in the world

PPPL and Max Planck physicists confirm the precision of magnetic fields in the most advanced stellarator in the world

PPPL December 2, 2016 Physicist Sam Lazerson Physicist Sam Lazerson of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has teamed with German scientists to confirm that the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) fusion energy device called a stellarator in Greifswald, Germany, produces high-quality magnetic fields that are consistent with their complex design. The … Read more