Channeling helium: Researchers take next step toward fusion energy

Channeling helium: Researchers take next step toward fusion energy

Texas A&M NOVEMBER 10, 2017 By: Lorian Hopcus Fusion is the process that powers the sun, harnessing it on Earth would provide unlimited clean energy. However, researchers say that constructing a fusion power plant has proven to be a daunting task, in no small part because there have been no materials that could survive the … Read more

PPPL honors Grierson and Greenough for distinguished research and engineering achievements

PPPL honors Grierson and Greenough for distinguished research and engineering achievements

PPPL November 13, 2017 Physicist Brian Grierson and engineer Nevell Greenough A breakthrough in the development of fusion diagnostics and the creative use of radio frequency waves to heat the plasma that fuels fusion reactions earned the 2017 outstanding research and engineering awards from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). … Read more

A blanket to fuel fusion

A blanket to fuel fusion

Eurofusion November 8th 2017 Harnessing the energy generated by a fusion reactor while simultaneously generating more tritium fuel to sustain the reaction is no easy task. However, that is what is required from a blanket, the enormous structure that lines the outside of the first wall. ENERGY CAPTURE The energy given off in a fusion … Read more

Tritium: a challenging fuel for fusion

Tritium: a challenging fuel for fusion

Eurofusion November 8th 2017 Picture 1: Schematic diagram of the tritium breeding inside a fusion reactor. Deuteriumtritium atoms fuse in a hot plasma to produce one atom of helium-4 atom, one neutron and, along with it, energy. The fusion neutrons will escape the plasma and react with lithium atoms present in the so-called breeding blanket … Read more

Nuclear Fusion: Reacting To Commercialization

Nuclear Fusion: Reacting To Commercialization

Vlab.org Successful entrepreneurs including Peter Thiel, Paul Allen, and Jeff Bezos are investing in innovative nuclear fusion startup companies, such as Helion Energy, Tri-Alpha, and General Fusion. Lockheed Martin is building a compact fusion reactor prototype, looking at future markets. These approaches are leaner and evolve faster than large government or international fusion projects. Startups … Read more

Open Access publications from 22nd International Conference on Plasma-Surface Interactions in Controlled Fusion Devices now available

Open Access publications from 22nd International Conference on Plasma-Surface Interactions in Controlled Fusion Devices now available

Open Access 6 November 2017 | G. Mazzitelli, G. Maddaluno, M.L. Apicella, P. Buratti, F. Crisanti, O. Tudisco, B. Viola, E. Visca The 22nd International Conference on Plasma-Surface Interactions in Controlled Fusion Devices (PSI-22), organized by ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, was held in the Pontificia Università … Read more

Physicists improve vertical stability of superconducting Korean fusion device

Physicists improve vertical stability of superconducting Korean fusion device

Phys.org November 6, 2017 by John Greenwald Physicist Dennis Mueller with image of KSTAR on scree at left. Credit: Elle Starkman/PPPL Office of Communications A major challenge facing the development of fusion energy is maintaining the ultra-hot plasma that fuels fusion reactions in a steady state, or sustainable, form using superconducting magnetic coils to avoid … Read more

Presentation: STELLARATOR RESEARCH NEEDS FOR FUSION ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

Presentation: STELLARATOR RESEARCH NEEDS FOR FUSION ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

IEEE On Wednesday, Nov. 8 2017, Dr. David Gates (Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory) will give a presentation on current topics in fusion research. The presentation starts at 3:30 PM and will be held at the Crawford Hill Conference Room at Bell Labs, Crawford Hill, NJ. Please register in advance to provide the organizers an approximate … Read more