
Dream of unlimited, clean nuclear fusion energy within reach
9 days ago
The old joke is that nuclear fusion is always 30 years away. Yet the dream of abundant clean energy is no laughing matter as we meet an ITER researcher to catch up on progress at the reactor facility.

First plasma propels Zap Energy's plans for garage-sized fusion reactors
14 days ago
Nuclear fusion is an incredibly complex scientific problem that researchers are coming at from all sorts of angles, and Zap Energy is starting to make waves through one of the lesser-known approaches.

Helium pre-exposure inhibits hydrogen isotope permeation in wall materials
24 days ago
A research team from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has recently revealed that helium exposure could inhibit the penetration of hydrogen isotopes in wall materials.

Magnetizing laser-driven inertial fusion implosions
a month ago
Nuclear fusion is a widely studied process through which atomic nuclei of a low atomic number fuse together to form a heavier nucleus, while releasing a large amount of energy. Nuclear fusion reactions can be produced using a method known as inertial confinement fusion, which entails the use of powerful lasers to implode a fuel capsule and produce plasma.

New feedback system can improve efficiency of fusion reactions
a month ago
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have refined the use of magnetic fields to improve the performance of doughnut-shaped fusion facilities known as tokamaks.

Uncovering a novel way to bring the energy that powers the sun and stars to Earth
a month ago
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have uncovered critical new details about fusion facilities that use lasers to compress the fuel that produces fusion energy.

Unprecedented level of insight into plasma edge phenomena
a month ago
One of the challenges is managing the temperatures in the plasma edge. Perek defended his thesis at the department of Applied Physics on April 13th.

Discovery of high-speed moving plasma turbulence that outpaces the movement of heat
2 months ago
In order to achieve a fusion power plant, it is necessary to stably confine a plasma of more than 100 million degrees Celsius in a magnetic field and maintain it for a long time. A research group led by Assistant Professor Naoki Kenmochi, Professor Katsumi Ida, and Associate Professor Tokihiko Tokuzawa of the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS), National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS), Japan, using measuring instruments developed independently and with the cooperation of Professor Daniel J. den Hartog of the University of Wisconsin, USA, discovered for the first time that turbulence moves faster than heat when heat escapes in plasmas in the Large Helical Device (LHD).

A new law unchains fusion energy
2 months ago
Physicists at EPFL, within a large European collaboration, have revised one of the fundamental laws that has been foundational to plasma and fusion research for over three decades, even governing the design of megaprojects like ITER.

French scientist leading nuclear fusion project dies at 72
2 months ago
He was 72.

Straight coils for twisty reactors give new shape to nuclear fusion
2 months ago
Scientists are pursuing the proposition of clean and inexhaustible power from nuclear fusion through a variety of experimental reactor designs, and one of the more interesting examples is a roughly circular device known as a stellarator.

Researchers design simpler magnets for twisty facilities that could lead to steady-state fusion operation
2 months ago
Harnessing the power that makes the sun and stars shine could be made easier by powerful magnets with straighter shapes than have been made before. Researchers linked to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have found a way to create such magnets for fusion facilities known as stellarators.

Machine learning, harnessed to extreme computing, aids fusion energy development
2 months ago
MIT research scientists Pablo Rodriguez-Fernandez and Nathan Howard have just completed one of the most demanding calculations in fusion science—predicting the temperature and density profiles of a magnetically confined plasma via first-principles simulation of plasma turbulence.

Sapphire fiber sensor can withstand the rigors of fusion and flight
2 months ago
Scientists at Oxford University have developed a novel sensor made of incredibly thin strands of sapphire that can withstand extreme heat and radiation. The breakthrough is billed as a solution to a 20-year problem in the field, and the scientists behind it believe their durable new sensor could be put to work in the harsh environment of nuclear fusion reactors and enable more streamlined air travel.

Validating models for next-generation fusion facilities
3 months ago
The flagship fusion facility of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) could serve as the model for an economically attractive next-generation fusion pilot plant, according to recent simulations and analysis.

Oxford spinoff demonstrates world-first hypersonic "projectile fusion"
3 months ago
Oxford spinoff First Light Fusion says its novel "projectile" approach offers "the fastest, simplest and cheapest route to commercial fusion power.". The company is now celebrating a significant breakthrough with its first confirmed fusion reaction.

Better nuclear fusion reactor walls represent a major engineering advance for the technology
3 months ago
Scientists at a laboratory in England have shattered the record for the amount of energy produced during a controlled, sustained fusion reaction. The production of 59 megajoules of energy over five seconds at the Joint European Torus—or JET—experiment in England has been called "a breakthrough" by some news outlets and caused quite a lot of excitement among physicists.

HB11's hydrogen-boron laser fusion test yields groundbreaking results
3 months ago
HB11 is approaching nuclear fusion from an entirely new angle, using high power, high precision lasers instead of hundred-million-degree temperatures to start the reaction.

Tokamak Energy achieves temperature threshold for commercial fusion
4 months ago
Oxford-based UK tech firm Tokamak Energy has reached a milestone in privately-funded fusion research after its ST-40 spherical tokamak reactor reached a temperature of 100 million °C (180 million °F), which it says is the threshold for commercial fusion energy.

Google's DeepMind AI fills in the blanks on broken ancient texts
4 months ago
From confining plasma for nuclear fusion to solving 50-year protein folding problems, DeepMind's AI is starting to prove itself on the frontiers of modern science. To aid research into the history of human writing, the company has now turned its technology to the task of restoring incomplete ancient texts, where it has performed with an impressive degree of accuracy.

Scientists confirm thermonuclear fusion in a sheared-flow Z-pinch device
4 months ago
In findings that could help advance another "viable pathway" to fusion energy, research led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) physicists has proven the existence of neutrons produced through thermonuclear reactions from a sheared-flow stabilized Z-pinch device.