Levitating magnet may yield new approach to clean energy

Levitating magnet may yield new approach to clean energy
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www.eurekalert.org

A new experiment that reproduces the magnetic fields of the Earth and other planets has yielded its first significant results. The findings confirm that its unique approach has some potential to be developed as a new way of creating a power-producing plant based on nuclear fusion — the process that generates the sun's prodigious output of energy.
Fusion has been a cherished goal of physicists and energy researchers for more than 50 years. That's because it offers the possibility of nearly endless supplies of energy with no carbon emissions and far less radioactive waste than that produced by today's nuclear plants, which are based on fission, the splitting of atoms (the opposite of fusion, which involves fusing two atoms together). But developing a fusion reactor that produces a net output of energy has proved to be more challenging than initially thought.

Something they don't mention it here. Anyone who has followed the progress of nuclear energy knows that for the many decades after the advent of the nuclear fission reactor the US military did not want nor did they care to fund research in fusion reactors. Why did they veer away from such a promising, low waste energy alternative? Precisely because of its inability to produce fissionable material. Admiral Rickover wanted bombs. Lots of bombs. And a fleet of nuclear powered boats. For those he needed enriched uranium, and then later, plutonium The arms race with the Soviet Union, and the fear of their first strike with an overwhelming nuclear force, prompted Admiral Rickover's lobbying to Congress to only funding research towards nuclear fission reactors under the guise of national security. Not until the fall of the Soviet State, and the realization of the vulnerable position relying on foreign oil puts the US, has Congressional funding of any substance been allocated for this vital research.
'Bout Time! - MHO -
L.E.