Fusion News

IAEA Modelling Damage in a Fusion Reactor Motivation Nuclear fusion is the process by which the nuclei of two light atoms combine to produce a single nucleus whilst releasing a large amount of energy. A star like our own Sun shines because of energy released from a set of fusion reactions which convert hydrogen to … Read more

Fusion for Energy 25 April 2018 Europe’s first Toroidal Field coil winding pack to undergo cold tests, SIMIC, port of Marghera, Italy © SIMI C Close to Venice, the final act of Europe’s Toroidal Field (TF) coil magnets will be played. The breathtaking beauty of this city has inspired authors and directors to narrate some … Read more

Fusion for Energy 20 April 2018 The last TF coil installed in JT-60SA (Photo courtesy of QST). The assembly of JT-60SA at its Naka site, Japan, has moved a step closer to completion with the installation of the eighteenth and last Toroidal Field (TF) coil. Pre-assembled together with the final sector of the vacuum vessel, … Read more

A critique of the MIT & Commonwealth Energy Compact Fusion Energy Reactor By Daniel Jassby, Ph.D. New Jersey, 3/29/2018 Prepared for the National Academy of Sciences public input on fusion energy In March 2018 a collaboration of MIT and CFS (Commonwealth Fusion Systems) announced that it would build a compact high-field experimental fusion reactor called … Read more

Phys.org April 21, 2018 by John Greenwald, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Physicists Brian Grierson of PPPL and Gary Staebler of General Atomics. Credit: Shaun Haskey Scientists seeking to bring fusion—the power that drives the sun and stars—down to Earth must first make the state of matter called plasma superhot enough to sustain fusion reactions. That … Read more

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Daniel Jassby | 19 April 2017 Fusion reactors have long been touted as the “perfect” energy source. Proponents claim that when useful commercial fusion reactors are developed, they would produce vast amounts of energy with little radioactive waste, forming little or no plutonium byproducts that could be used for nuclear … Read more

WNN 19 April 2018 Canada has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Iter Organisation to explore how Canada can participate in the project to construct the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. The fusion reactor – construction of which began in 2010 – is scheduled to achieve first plasma in 2025. Champagne (left) and Bigot … Read more

ITER Kirsten Haupt 16 Apr, 2018 To achieve maximum fusion efficiency in a tokamak device it is essential to limit the impurities in the plasma. But this can be a challenge, as interaction between the hot plasma and the material surfaces of the vacuum vessel causes material particles to detach and enter the swirling cloud … Read more

IEEE Spectrum By Tracy Staedter | 18 Apr 2018 Commonwealth Fusion Systems has pledged to build a commercial fusion reactor based on new superconducting magnets Image: Ken Filar, PSFC Research Affiliate Fusion power is always two or three decades away. Dozens of experimental reactors have come and gone over the years, inching the field forward … Read more

Physics Today David Kramer | 16 Apr 2018 The leader of the international collaboration challenges a DOE undersecretary’s claim that the price tag will be tens of billions of dollars higher than official estimates. The Sun sets over the ITER construction site in France in December 2017. Credit: ITER Organization/EJF Riche The US Department of … Read more