Getting a significant energy return from tokamak-based nuclear fusion reactors depends for a large part on plasma density, but increasing said density is tricky, as beyond a certain point the plasma transitions back from the much more stable high-confinement mode (H-mode) into L-mode. Recently Chinese researchers have reported that they managed to increase the plasma […]
Although nuclear fusion is exceedingly easy to achieve, as evidenced by desktop fusors, the real challenges begin to pop up whenever you try to sustain a plasma for extended periods of time, never mind trying to generate net energy output. Plasma instability was the reason why 1950s UK saw its nuclear fusion hopes dashed when […]
What’s sixty feet (18.29 meters for the rest of the world) across and superconducting? The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), and probably not much else. The last parts of the central solenoid assembly have finally made their way to France from the United States, making both a milestone in the slow development of the world’s […]