New temperature record brings us one step closer to fusion energy

New temperature record brings us one step closer to fusion energy

Miles O’Brien By FEDOR KOSSAKOVSKI 02.17.18. While we’ve been recently thinking about the nuclear threat from North Korea, progress is being made on a new and potentially game-changing source of energy: nuclear fusion. TAE Technologies, formerly Tri Alpha Energy, has announced that its newest experimental fusion machine, called Norman, has set a company temperature record: … Read more

New turbulent transport modeling shows multiscale fluctuations in heated plasma

New turbulent transport modeling shows multiscale fluctuations in heated plasma

Phys.org February 13, 2018, American Institute of Physics Researchers at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, a DOE Office of Science user facility operated by General Atomics, used a “reduced physics” fluid model of plasma turbulence to explain unexpected properties of the density profile inside a tokamak experiment. Modeling plasma’s turbulent behavior could help scientists optimize … Read more

Fusion Breakthroughs Among Highlights of the Department of Energy’s Research Milestones During the Past 40 Years

Fusion Breakthroughs Among Highlights of the Department of Energy’s Research Milestones During the Past 40 Years

DOE News Credit: Image courtesy of Office of Science. Celebrating four decades of landmark research milestones. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science, the largest U.S. supporter of basic research in the physical sciences, celebrated the 40th anniversary of its founding in 2017. To mark the 40th anniversary of Office of Science support … Read more

Fusion energy using tokamaks: can development be accelerated?

Fusion energy using tokamaks: can development be accelerated?

Royal Society Register for the conference Conference in London on March 26 & 27, 2018 Location The Royal Society, London, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AG Overview Scientific discussion meeting organised by Professor Colin Windsor FRS, Professor Dennis Whyte, Dr Jack Connor FRS, Dr Melanie Windridge and Professor Guenter Janeschitz. Fusion power is one … Read more

Minnie – A Proposed Feature Film to Stimulate Fusion Energy Research and Development

Minnie  –  A Proposed Feature Film to Stimulate Fusion Energy Research and Development

Atul’s Earth 14 February 2018 MINNIE is a feature film script with an environmental theme that reached the semi-final of Screencraft’s International Screenwriting Competition, 2015. Please click the video file below to see the trailer. The feature length version has not yet been made. Please read the article below and contact me if you would … Read more

Smooth sailing: PPPL develops an integrated approach to understand how to better control instabilities in an international fusion device

Smooth sailing: PPPL develops an integrated approach to understand how to better control instabilities in an international fusion device

PPPL February 12, 2018 PPPL physicist Francesca Poli ITER Plasma Cross-Section and Structures A key goal for ITER, the international fusion device under construction in France, will be to produce 10 times more power than goes into it to heat the hot, charged plasma that sustains fusion reactions. Among the steps needed to reach that … Read more

TAE Technologies Gen 5 reactor targets tripling confinement with 10 times the power by 2020

TAE Technologies Gen 5 reactor targets tripling confinement with 10 times the power by 2020

Next Big Future February 10, 2018 TAE Technologies, Inc. (formerly Tri Alpha Energy), the world’s largest and most advanced private fusion company, has announced that its proprietary beam-driven field-reversed configuration (FRC) plasma generator, “Norman,” surpassed a new technical milestone, bringing the company closer to the reality of commercial fusion power. This latest achievement marks a … Read more

Norman fusion device reaches ‘long enough’ milestone

Norman fusion device reaches ‘long enough’ milestone

WNN 09 February 2018 TAE Technologies, the California, USA-based fusion energy technology company, has announced that its proprietary beam-driven field-reversed configuration (FRC) plasma generator has set a new company record for plasma temperature. After more than 4000 experiments to date, the generator ‘Norman’ has now exceeded the capabilities and performance of the company’s previous FRC … Read more

Nuclear fusion’s clean energy dream meets budget reality — and San Diego’s General Atomics sweats it out

Nuclear fusion’s clean energy dream meets budget reality — and San Diego’s General Atomics sweats it out

San Diego Union Tribune Rob Nikolewski | Feb. 2, 2018 Using nuclear fusion as a virtually unlimited source of energy has been a thrilling yet distant dream for more than six decades. An expensive and incredibly complicated international project to determine if the fantasy can become reality is finally taking shape — and San Diego’s … Read more