The Energy of the Future: The Status of Nuclear Fusion Research and the Role of the IAEA

IAEA by Aabha Dixit | Sept. 15, 2016 Participants at the side event on latest advances in research and development in fusion technology. (Photo: J. C. Castillo/IAEA) Scientists are becoming increasingly excited about the prospects that within the foreseeable future a reactor can replicate the sun’s energy source on Earth through scientific and technological innovation … Read more

PPPL Director Stewart Prager Steps Down

PPPL By Larry Bernard | September 26, 2016 Stewart Prager PRINCETON, New Jersey (Sept. 26, 2016) – Prof. Stewart Prager, a world renowned plasma physicist and passionate voice for a future of clean, abundant and benign energy fueled by fusion, has stepped down today from directorship of the national laboratory he has headed for the … Read more

Runaway Electrons (And Other Plasma Physics Horror Stories)

Bwog BETSY LADYZHETS | September 24, 2016 Construction of the tokamak (that might kill us all!) In some very specific conditions, electrons (you know, those tiny negatively charged subatomic particles) can run away. But how does this happen? Where do they go? Are they dangerous? We sent Senior Staffer Betsy Ladyzhets to the Plasma Physics … Read more

Nuclear Fusion Technology in Prague

Kongres Sep 21, 2016 The 29th Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT) The 29th Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT) took place from September 5th till 9th, 2016 in Prague. The event was jointly organized by the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Research Centre Rez, two principal institutes engaged in … Read more

PPPL and Princeton demonstrate novel technique that may have applicability to future nuclear disarmament talks

PPPL By John Greenwald | September 20, 2016 Graduate student Sébastien Philippe who led the zero-knowledge protocol experiment. Setup of the experiment in a PPPL laboratory (credit: Elle Starkman) A system that can compare physical objects while potentially protecting sensitive information about the objects themselves has been demonstrated experimentally at the U.S. Department of Energy’s … Read more

Fusion Energy Pioneer Named to the 2017 Canada Clean50

Market Wired September 20, 2016 List Recognizes General Fusion’s Chief Scientist as a Leader in Canadian Clean Technology TORONTO, ON–(Marketwired – September 20, 2016) – The founder and Chief Scientist of Vancouver-based General Fusion, Dr. Michel Laberge, was named today as one of Canada’s Clean50 for 2017. The Clean50 award recognizes Canada’s leaders in sustainability … Read more

University of Illinois stellarator nuclear fusion device receives million dollar grant

Next Big Future September 19, 2016 The Department of Energy awarded a $1.05 million grant to the University’s nuclear fusion device, the Hybrid Illinois Device for Research and Applications, or HIDRA. This grant, the first one for the machine, will allow researchers at the University’s Center for Plasma Material Interactions to conduct experiments with the … Read more

Provence Region pledges an extra 43 M€ to ITER

Iter 19 SEP, 2016 In the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region (PACA)—the administrative territory that spans from the Italian border to the Rhône river valley, and from the Mediterranean shores to the Alpine summits south of Grenoble—the dream of hosting ITER dates back to the mid-1990s. Back in 2001, the local governments around ITER pledged a total … Read more