The Next Platform June 27, 2018 Brid-Aine Parnell Nuclear fusion, the opportunity to harness the power of the stars, has been a dream of humanity from around the time of the Manhattan Project. But while making bombs has been readily achieved, controlling the process for thermonuclear fusion for civilian use has been frustratingly elusive. Nuclear … Read more
Geek Wire by Alan Boyle on July 17, 2018 Michl Binderbauer is moving up from chief technology officer to chief executive officer at California-based TAE Technologies, formerly known as Tri Alpha Energy. (PPPL / TAE Photo) TAE Technologies, the fusion energy venture backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and other heavy-hitters, is elevating Michl Binderbauer … Read more
PPPL Isabel Krebs Sawtooth swings — up-and-down ripples found in everything from stock prices on Wall Street to ocean waves — occur periodically in the temperature and density of the plasma that fuels fusion reactions in doughnut-shaped facilities called tokamaks. These swings can sometimes combine with other instabilities in the plasma to produce a perfect … Read more
IAEA July 11, 2018 An illustration of the interactions between ions and neutrals in a plasma vapour shield. (Illustration: IAEA) The IAEA is launching a new 3-year Coordinated Research Project (CRP) in order to assemble, validate and distribute atomic, molecular and plasma-material interaction data for nuclear fusion energy development. Upon conclusion, the CRP is expected … Read more
PPPL July 9, 2018 From analyzing solar flares to pursuing “a star in a jar” to produce virtually limitless electric power, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have developed insights and discoveries over the past year that advance understanding of the universe and the prospect for safe, clean, … Read more
NPRE Illinois Jul 03, 2018 Researchers working with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign HIDRA plasma/fusion facility have had a busy and productive summer as they have prepared the facility to run experiments on techniques designed to advance fusion reactors. Scientists at both Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and the Center for Plasma-Material Interactions (CPMI) … Read more
Princeton Research Computing Jun 15, 2018 Four members of the PICSciE-affiliated research team that designed the experiments and developed the FRRN code: Chief architect of the FRNN is Julian Kates-Harbeck (inset photo), a graduate student at Harvard University and a DOE Office of Science Computational Science Graduate Fellow; Eliot Feibush (standing, center), a computational scientist … Read more
MIT Paul Rivenberg | July 2, 2018 MIT postdoc Cristina Rea records data about disruptions in fusion plasmas from the DIII-D control room. Photo courtesy of General Atomics. Postdoc Cristina Rea’s detour into banking provides a new route back to plasma research. “In some ways you can compare what we are trying to do to … Read more
livescience.com By Yasemin Saplakoglu, Staff Writer | June 25, 2018 The ongoing joke in the world of physics is that commercially viable fusion energy has been just on the horizon — 30 years away at most — for the past eight decades. Now, a new Washington-based startup, Agni Energy Inc., has a plan for a … Read more
Times of India Jun 15, 2018 Ahmedabad: India will host the world’s largest International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) fusion energy conference (FEC) at the Institute of Plasma Research (IPR) in Bhat in Ahmedabad. The five-day event will begin from October 22. Preparations for the event is in full swing with scientific papers being called for … Read more