Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics October 23, 2014 Lockheed Martin’s compact reactor concept / fusion drives for aircraft and trucks? The magnetic coils inside of the compact fusion experiment are critical to plasma containment. Photo: Lockheed Martin Building a small, transportable fusion power plant has long been a dream of fusion researchers. In the … Read more
Popular Mechanics Thorium This radioactive metal is three to four times more common than uranium, and, unlike uranium, it doesn’t generate weapons-grade nuclear material after it’s burned in a reactor. (The United Stated experimented with thorium reactors as early as the 1950s, before the element lost out to uranium.) Virginia-based Lightbridge aims to capitalize on … Read more
Last Tech Age 2013/03/26 The $1 billion MFTF-B fusion experiment was built, then dismantled before it was turned on — our first sign of the politicization of fusion. Energy independence should be an issue important to everyone. Instead, it has been a political issue in and out of the news for many years. MFTF-B was … Read more
the Last Tech Age 2012/02/29 Fusion research will yield nothing if current U.S. “starve research” policy is continued. Fusion development must fail under this self justifying strategy. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory got all its parameters lined up in a row and fired away. Their target did not implode to … Read more
The Globe and Mail Last updated Thursday, Feb. 05 2015, 10:46 AM EST Michel Laberge, the founder and chief scientist of General Fusion, sits in front of a prototype fusion reactor built at General Fusion in Burnaby. (BEN NELMS/REUTERS) General Fusion’s plan to rescue Earth from the calamity of global warming involves an ironic feat … Read more
Japan Atomic Energy Agency January 08, 2015 Japan Atomic Energy Agency Tanaka Precious Metals Tanaka Holdings Co., Ltd. – World Record efficiency achieved; this breakthrough is predicted to solve nuclear fusion reactor technological issues – [Key achievements] Establishment of a method of manufacturing a new catalyst for collecting tritium required for nuclear fusion reactor fuel. … Read more
The world’s most powerful countries are collaborating on the ITER project (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in France. The $20 billion facility will heat gas to 150 million degrees in an attempt to create a nuclear fusion reaction when it becomes fully operational in 2027.
World Nuclear Association (Updated October 2014) Fusion power offers the prospect of an almost inexhaustible source of energy for future generations, but it also presents so far insurmountable scientific and engineering challenges. The main hope is centred on tokamak reactors which confine a deuterium-tritium plasma magnetically. Today, many countries take part in fusion research to … Read more
chinadialogue.net Olivia Boyd 12.02.2013 China could lead the way to a clean and boundless energy supply – if it can ever be made to work. Scientist Steven Cowley talks to chinadialogue. A nuclear fusion display in the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Fusion could one day meet 25% of the world’s energy needs, says Steven … Read more
The DBrief FEBRUARY 14, 2014 BY PATRICK TUCKER Researchers with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California recently announced a major step forward in pursuit of the so-called holy grail of energy: fusion. Fusion in this case refers to merging two atoms into a single, heavier atom. In bonding, excess energy from the atoms is … Read more