Canada considers participation in Iter fusion project

Canada considers participation in Iter fusion project

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

Be clean, be strong

Be clean, be strong

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

MIT Spin-off Faces Daunting Challenges on Path to Build a Fusion Power Plant in 15 Years

MIT Spin-off Faces Daunting Challenges on Path to Build a Fusion Power Plant in 15 Years

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

ITER disputes DOE’s cost estimate of fusion project

ITER disputes DOE’s cost estimate of fusion project

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

Will China beat the world to nuclear fusion and clean energy?

Will China beat the world to nuclear fusion and clean energy?

BBC By Stephen McDonell BBC News, Anhui Province | 18 April 2018 China says it’s ahead in the global race for nuclear fusion In a world with an ever-increasing demand for electricity and a deteriorating environment, Chinese scientists are leading the charge to develop what some see as the holy grail of energy. The BBC’s … Read more

Why nuclear fusion is gaining steam – again

Why nuclear fusion is gaining steam – again

Energy Post April 12, 2018 by Scott L Montgomery Construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in southern France Although no breakthrough has happened in nuclear fusion since it was hailed as the clean energy source of the future in the 1970s, there are reasons to be optimistic now, writes Scott L. Montgomery of … Read more

Italy’s Eni defies skeptics, may up stake in nuclear fusion project

Italy’s Eni defies skeptics, may up stake in nuclear fusion project

Reuters Giancarlo Navach | April 13, 2018 MILAN (Reuters) – Italian energy group Eni (ENI.MI) is considering stepping up its investment in nuclear fusion, potentially doubling down on a technology considered so uncertain that Eni remains the only global oil company prepared to place a bet on it. Postdoc Ted Golfinopoulos performs maintenance between plasma … Read more

Research enhances performance of Germany’s new fusion device

Research enhances performance of Germany’s new fusion device

Phys.org March 29, 2018 by John Greenwald, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Five superimposed images of W7-X magnetic surfaces displaced by changes in application of trim coil currents. Credit: Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics A team of U.S. and German scientists has used a system of large magnetic “trim” coils designed and delivered by the … Read more

Tungsten ‘too brittle’ for nuclear fusion reactors

Tungsten ‘too brittle’ for nuclear fusion reactors

Phys.org April 11, 2018, University of Huddersfield Scientists at the University of Huddersfield have been using world-class new facilities to carry out experiments that could aid the development of nuclear fusion reactors, widely regarded as the “Holy Grail” solution to future energy needs. By simulating the damage caused by high energy neutrons and alpha particles … Read more