Energy Education: Fusion Outreach Ignites in Spring

the Energy Collective May 12, 2016 Ted Golfinopoulos (left), a postdoc with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, invites visitors to the USA Science and Engineering Festival to feel how insulated copper coil gets warm when electrical current runs through it, in a demonstration about magnetism and electricity. Photo: Paul Rivenberg Students and staff members … Read more

Powerful physics

nature.com 03 May 2016 Although driven by the promise of almost limitless energy, fusion research touches on plenty of gripping, fundamental physics — and the wider scientific community has every reason to be supportive. On the night of Halloween in 1997, the Joint European Torus (JET) in Culham, UK, had a treat in store: a … Read more

Sandia plasma-materials researcher wins DOE Early Career Award

Sandia Labs May 10, 2016 LIVERMORE, Calif. — Sandia National Laboratories researcher Robert Kolasinski has received a $2.5 million, five-year Early Career Research Program award from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science to support his work on how intense fusion plasmas interact with the interior surfaces of fusion reactors. Kolsinski’s research will develop … Read more

A Major Upgrade of the Lithium Tokamak Experiment at PPPL Will Explore Liquid Lithium as a First Wall for Hot Plasmas

Newswise 10-May-2016 Source Newsroom: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Newswise — A promising experiment that encloses hot, magnetically confined plasma in a full wall of liquid lithium is undergoing a $2 million upgrade at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). Engineers are installing a powerful neutral beam injector in the laboratory’s … Read more

Nature Physics Insight – Nuclear Fusion

Harnessing the energy produced in nuclear fusion reactions is an ongoing grand challenge. This Insight focuses on the achievements made so far and the trials ahead, highlighting that at the core of nuclear fusion lies some fascinating physics. Read More…

What are the Effects of Nuclear Fusion on International Relations?

By Dimitris Raptis, Junior Analyst KEDISA May 5, 2016 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an independent international organization. The fundamental goal of the IAEA is the promotion of the peaceful use of nuclear technology, such as fusion energy. For many decades now the IAEA has worked towards promoting and providing safeguards against the … Read more

Why the World’s Largest Nuclear Fusion Project May Never Succeed

Technology Review by Richard Martin May 4, 2016 The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project reached a critical phase last week, as a panel of experts convened to review the latest revised budget and time line to build the proposed fusion reactor delivered its findings. Launched in 2006, ITER has been plagued with delays and … Read more

Pakistan stays out of nuclear fusion project

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE > PAKISTAN By Sehrish Wasif | May 5, 2016 ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ambition for securing membership to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) group – one of the most ambitious energy projects in the world – are being hindered by shortage of both funds and capable researchers, experts told The Express Tribune on … Read more

Lockheed Still Supporting Portable Nuclear Generator

Defense News Aaron Mehta, May 3, 2016 WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin continues to invest in its portable nuclear fusion generator, with that investment recently entering a more advanced stage, according to the head of the company’s Skunk Works division. Rob Weiss told an audience at the Atlantic Council that Lockheed is “about four months into … Read more

Scientists challenge conventional wisdom to improve predictions of the bootstrap current at the edge of fusion plasmas

Phys.org May 3, 2016 by John Greenwald Simulation shows trapped electrons at left and passing electron at right that are carried in the bootstrap current of a tokamak. Credit: Kwan Liu-Ma, University of California, Davis Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have challenged understanding of a key element … Read more