China successfully powered up its "artificial sun" nuclear fusion reactor for the first time, state media reported Friday, marking a great advance in the country's nuclear power research capabilities.
General Physics
Dec 4, 2020
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Fusion offers the potential of near limitless energy by heating a gas trapped in a magnetic field to incredibly high temperatures where atoms are so energetic that they fuse together when they collide. But if that hot gas, ...
Plasma Physics
Nov 5, 2018
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Before scientists can capture and recreate the fusion process that powers the sun and stars to produce virtually limitless energy on Earth, they must first learn to control the hot plasma gas that fuels fusion reactions. ...
Plasma Physics
Aug 22, 2018
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Confining a plasma jet can be stress-inducing, especially on the shielding materials. Noting the limits inherent in the test methods currently used for such materials, Professor Patrizio Antici and his colleagues have proposed ...
Materials Science
Feb 15, 2018
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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 ...
General Physics
Nov 13, 2017
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Robert Granetz has been a research scientist in MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center for more than 40 years. He recently gave a talk hosted by the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) on using machine learning to develop a real-time ...
Plasma Physics
Oct 11, 2017
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In a world struggling to kick its addiction to fossil fuels and feed its growing appetite for energy, there's one technology in development that almost sounds too good to be true: nuclear fusion.
Plasma Physics
Jan 17, 2017
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Among the top puzzles in the development of fusion energy is the best shape for the magnetic facility—or "bottle"—that will provide the next steps in the development of fusion reactors. Leading candidates include spherical ...
Plasma Physics
Aug 24, 2016
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Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) produced the first helium plasma in the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator last December. Since then, they have cleaned the plasma vessel with many more helium discharges. ...
Plasma Physics
Feb 5, 2016
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Fusion reactors could become an economically viable means of generating electricity within a few decades, and policy makers should start planning to build them as a replacement for conventional nuclear power stations, according ...
General Physics
Oct 2, 2015
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