Researchers generate fusion at 100 million Kelvin for 20 seconds

Phys.org  September 8, 2022 An international team of researchers (South Korea, Princeton University, Columbia University) generated plasmas at a temperature of 100 million kelvin lasting up to 20 seconds without plasma edge instabilities or impurity accumulation. They used edge-transport barrier which shapes the plasma in a way that prevents it from escaping, and an internal transport barrier that works by creating an area of high pressure near the center of the plasma to keep it under control. According to the researchers use of the internal transport barrier resulted in much denser plasma than the other approach. A higher density made it easier […]

Nuclear Fusion Can Unleash Even More Power Than We Realized, Scientists Say

Science Alert  May 26, 2022 The research led by physicists from the Swiss Plasma Center has determined that the maximum hydrogen fuel density is about twice the Greenwald Limit – an estimate derived from experiments more than 30 years ago. The exact value depends on the power. But as a rough estimate, the increase is on the order of a factor of two in ITER. Although scientists had long suspected the Greenwald Limit could be improved upon, it has been a foundational rule of fusion research for more than 30 years, a guiding principle of the ITER design. The key […]