Iran’s Plans to Develop Nuclear Fusion Project

Khorasan News Sunday 5 July 2015 Says Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Dr. Ali Akbar Salehi in Interview . . Nuclear Fusion Project is one of the most important and strategic projects that have been well developed by Iranian researchers in recent years in Nuclear Sciences and Techniques Research Center of Iran’s Atomic Energy … Read more

Going Nuclear: The Fusion Race Is Heating Up. Will Anyone Cross the Finish Line?

Recode BY JAMES TEMPLE July 1, 2015 Tom McGuire, head of fusion efforts in Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works division A growing number of private players like Lockheed Martin and Helion Energy believe they can commercialize fusion energy within a decade, promising a carbon-free energy source with effectively limitless fuel. But there’s considerable skepticism in the … Read more

Scientists propose an enhanced new model of the source of a mysterious barrier to fusion known as the ‘density limit’

Phys.org Magnetic island geometry showing the asymmetry effect that is crucial in determining the mechanism for the density limit. Reprinted with permission from Phys. Plasmas 22, 022514 (2015). Credit: Copyright 2015 AIP Publishing LLC. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have developed a detailed model of the source … Read more

Breakthroughs that Could Make Nuclear Fusion Sustainable

al fin next level 22 June, 2015 On Tuesday, June 16, 2015, Dr. Dennis Whyte, the Director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center showed that a series of scientific and engineering breakthroughs could enable fusion to become a feasible a power source faster and cheaper than anyone had thought possible. These technological breakthroughs … Read more

Magnetic mirror holds promise for fusion

ARS Technica by Chris Lee – Jun 22, 2015 Traditionally, magnetic confinement of plasmas involves a toroidal shape. Once upon a time, I worked at a research institute that was, for the most part, devoted to nuclear fusion. Although I was never involved myself, two things impressed me about the research. The first was the … Read more

Fusion researchers use Titan supercomputer to burst helium bubbles

phys.org Jun 10, 2015 by Eric Gedenk Using their ParRep method on the Titan supercomputer, Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers were able to simulate the surface morphology for helium bubbles growing inside of a fusion reactor’s divertor wall for two different growth stages. The combination of Titan and the ParRep method completed simulations in 30 … Read more

Controlling energy flow and loss in a turbulent plasma through helicity

University of Edinburgh June 8, 2015 Fresh theoretical understanding of the behaviour of turbulent plasmas could inform potential applications, from tokamak fusion reactors to new understanding of magnetic fields in cosmology. Researchers at the School of Physics & Astronomy have developed a new mathematical description of the energy flow of a turbulent plasma, and how … Read more

Nuclear war on the Hill

Politico Boer Deng June, 2015 Fusion research splits the House and Senate. Why? Because, er… science. On a patch of land in Saint-Paul-les-Durance, in the South of France, cranes recently installed two massive electrical fixtures, industrial gray and 87 tons each — the first components of a plant that will house the world’s biggest scientific … Read more

Nuclear physics: Pull together for fusion

nature.com by Bernard Bigot, 09 June 2015 ITER director-general Bernard Bigot explains how he will strengthen leadership and management to refocus the project’s aim of harnessing nuclear fusion. Ten years ago this month, China, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States agreed on the location for the world’s largest nuclear-fusion experiment: … Read more

Rays of Hope: Fringe Fusion Ventures Take Small Steps Toward Energy Leap

NBC ALAN BOYLE, JUN 5 2015 University of Washington researchers will attempt to create a self-sustained and controlled fusion reaction with a scaled-up version of this Z-pinch device. Photo: UW Multibillion-dollar projects are slowly moving ahead on the nuclear fusion frontier, but less traditional efforts to harness the power that fuels the sun say they’re … Read more