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. Phys.Org reports: The HL-2M Tokamak reactor is China’s largest and most advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device, and scientists hope that the device can potentially unlock a powerful clean energy source. It…
Tag: fusion
UK Seeks Site For World’s First Fusion Power Station
sciencehabit writes: The U.K. government today invited communities around the country to volunteer a site for a prototype fusion reactor, which would be the first — it is hoped — to put electricity into the grid. The project, called Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP), began last year with an initial 222 million pounds over 5 years to develop a design….
UK takes step towards world’s first nuclear fusion power station
The UK has embarked on a step to building the world’s first nuclear fusion power station, by launching a search for a 100-plus hectare site where it can be plugged into the electricity grid Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2261246-uk-takes-step-towards-worlds-first-nuclear-fusion-power-station/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
For the First Time Scientists Detect Neutrinos Traced To CNO Cycle Inside the Sun
NBC News calls it “the ghostly signal that reveals the engine of the universe.” Long-time Slashdot reader fahrbot-bot shares their report: In research published Wednesday in the journal Nature, scientists reported that they’ve made the first detection of almost-ethereal particles called neutrinos that can be traced to carbon-nitrogen-oxygen fusion, known as the CNO cycle, inside the sun. It’s a landmark finding…
Laser Fusion Reactor Approaches ‘Burning Plasma’ Milestone
Iwastheone shares a report from Science Magazine: In October 2010, in a building the size of three U.S. football fields, researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory powered up 192 laser beams, focused their energy into a pulse with the punch of a speeding truck, and fired it at a pellet of nuclear fuel the size of a peppercorn. So began…
What is a supernova?
A supernova is a star’s colossal explosion at the end of its life, potentially outshining its entire galaxy. Read about the causes and types of supernovae here. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/definition-what-is-a-supernova…
UK’s spherical nuclear fusion reactor tests new heat-reducing exhaust
Researchers have successfully tested a new £55 million nuclear fusion machine in the UK which could help tackle problems caused by the super high temperatures involved in fusion reactions Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2258255-uks-spherical-nuclear-fusion-reactor-tests-new-heat-reducing-exhaust/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Spacecraft design could get to Titan in only 2 years using a direct fusion drive
Fusion power is the technology that is 30 years away, and always will be, according to skeptics, at least. Despite its difficult transition into a reliable power source, the nuclear reactions that power the sun have a wide variety of uses in other fields. The most obvious is in weapons; hydrogen bombs are to this day the most powerful weapons we…
Nuclear fusion reactor could be here as soon as 2025
A viable nuclear fusion reactor — one that spits out more energy than it consumes — could be here as soon as 2025. Source: https://www.livescience.com/nuclear-fusion-reactor-sparc-2025.html
Compact Nuclear Fusion Reactor Is ‘Very Likely To Work,’ Studies Suggest
JoshuaZ writes: Recent research into the Sparc fusion reactor design make it seem likely to work. Unlike some other fusion reactor designs, Sparc uses high-temperature superconductors which are capable of much stronger magnetic fields in a more closely-confined location. Sparc will be much smaller than large-scale international project ITER, which after multiple delays is now not scheduled to even start fusion…