Breakthrough in Z-pinch implosion stability opens new path to fusion

Scienmag October 27, 2016 Credit: Sandia National Laboratories Using magnetic field thermal insulation to keep plasmas hot enough to achieve thermonuclear fusion was first proposed by the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi in 1945, and independently a few years later by Russian physicist Andrei Sakharov. An approach known as magneto-inertial fusion uses an implosion of material … Read more

Nuclear fusion project leader laments ‘uncontrollable’ political forces

EurActive Oct 26, 2016 Creating an experimental nuclear fusion reactor is an undertaking that has to face both technical and political challenges. Bernard Bigot, director general of the ITER project, told EurActiv Spain that the political forces are “more uncontrollable” though. Bigot said he was “quite confident” that the technical obstacles facing nuclear fusion technology, … Read more

Stealing the fire of the Gods or realising fusion energy

Eurofusion October 19th 2016 The current environmental concerns lead us to look for cleaner, safer and more efficient ways in which to produce power. We are in constant growth and our technological lifestyles are increasingly demanding for more energy. In addition to sustainable power from renewable sources, scientists want to find a solution which employs … Read more

First results of NSTX-U research operations presented at the International Atomic Energy Agency Conference in Kyoto, Japan

PPPL By John Greenwald | October 24, 2016 The new NSTX-U center stack central magnet that doubles the magnetic field and plasma current, left, and an image of NSTX-U H-mode plasma. Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratories (PPPL) and collaborating institutions presented results from research on the National Spherical … Read more

MIT researchers make great discovery regarding nuclear fusion

Element Community by Cabe Atwell | Oct 24, 2016 MIT researchers make great strides to nuclear fusion produced energy on the Alcator C-Mod tokamak’s final day of operation. The Alcator C-Mod tokamak reactor has been running for 23 years. (Photo from MIT) With a society now highly conscious of what it puts into the environment, … Read more

Metal Better Than Carbon for ITER Fusion Reactor, Award-Winning Study Confirms

IAEA May Fawaz-Huber | Oct. 20, 2016 Sebastian Brezinsek receiving the IAEA’s 2016 Nuclear Fusion Journal Prize from Director General, Yukiya Amano ((Photo: Courtesy NIFS)) Metal, rather than carbon, is better suited as material for the inside wall of tokamaks — the experimental machines designed to harness fusion energy — according to the paper that … Read more

26th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference

IAEA Kyoto, Japan 17–22 October 2016 Conference ID: 48315 (CN-234) Organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency Hosted by the Government of Japan through the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS) Programme and Book of Abstracts Online registration has closed however participation is still … Read more

Gleaming beamline will put the heat into MAST Upgrade

CCFE 17/10/2016 Here’s a glimpse into one of the completed MAST Upgrade Neutral Beam heating systems – and at some exquisite fusion engineering. The team working on MAST Upgrade’s main plasma heating system, the two neutral beam injectors (NBI), recently passed a major milestone when they completed the installation of equipment into the two NBI … Read more

High-intensity fusion

MIT Meg Murphy | School of Engineering October 14, 2016 MIT’s Alcator C-Mod nuclear reactor winds down — and defines its legacy on its final run. Alex Tingly (right), a graduate student in the Department of Physics, and senior research scientist Earl Marmar, head of the Alcator C-Mod project since 2002, review data on synchrotron … Read more