Fusion researchers make breakthrough: Control intense heat bursts in fusion experiments

Researchers from General Atomics and the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have made a major breakthrough in understanding how potentially damaging heat bursts inside a fusion reactor can be controlled. Scientists performed the experiments on the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, a tokamak operated by General Atomics in San Diego. The findings represent a key step in predicting how to control heat bursts in future fusion facilities including ITER, an international experiment under construction in France to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion energy. This work is supported by the DOE Office of Science (Fusion Energy Sciences).

Fusion researchers make breakthrough: Control intense heat bursts in fusion experiments

While this may at once be a candidate for a thread move. I find a conspiratorial angle immediately present in the genuine difference between prior "science claims" news items; and this one... in particular because of whose claiming the breakthrough.

Note the expository paragraph below:

The studies build upon previous work pioneered on DIII-D showing that these intense heat bursts -- called "ELMs" for short -- could be suppressed with tiny magnetic fields. These tiny fields cause the edge of the plasma to smoothly release heat, thereby avoiding the damaging heat bursts. But until now, scientists did not understand how these fields worked. "Many mysteries surrounded how the plasma distorts to suppress these heat bursts," said Carlos Paz-Soldan, a General Atomics scientist and lead author of the first of the two papers that report the seminal findings back-to-back in the same issue of Physical Review Letters this week.

I find no example of the principle actors being associated with any wild-eyed theories about free energy. It about something else of course... interesting that its a strictly US funded program.

At any rate there is real news (for optimists like me.)

At this juncture, future engineers can (at least in theory) use this principle to 'tap' plasma energy in a controlled manner. If plasma energy containment is ever possible... this could be useful. I know it's far off (and far out; ) but that has to present possibilities.

Lockheed has already achieved this I believe. It's possible their research has been shared, or that this team independently found a solution. They too use magnetic fields.

The team believe they have found a new way of squeezing atoms together so they fuse and generate energy, in a small-scale magnetic device.

As a result, they aim to build a reactor a 10th the size of current approaches.

They argue that their device, which would fit on the back of a truck, could produce 100 megawatts (MW) of power and use just 25kg of fuel in a year.

www.bbc.com...

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Excellent. I find sometimes that the tone and tenor of a scientific achievement by multi-billion dollar organizations to be revealing of a kind of entrenched bias. I don't believe that the matter of who has demonstrably executed the theoretical control of plasma transition via magnetic bubbling really tells us much, except that the last thing on their minds is actually doing something real with it.

a reply to: Maxmars

Well it's likely you will see it powering the next generation fighter jet, which will be armed with Lockheed's new laser.

In 20-30 years it may start powering homes.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
Lockheed has already achieved this I believe. It's possible their research has been shared, or that this team independently found a solution. They too use magnetic fields.

The team believe they have found a new way of squeezing atoms together so they fuse and generate energy, in a small-scale magnetic device.

As a result, they aim to build a reactor a 10th the size of current approaches.

They argue that their device, which would fit on the back of a truck, could produce 100 megawatts (MW) of power and use just 25kg of fuel in a year.

www.bbc.com...

Yes they have made significant progress with what they call "compact fusion" and have made a commitment to share the technology with the world, To quote Lockheed "it's closer than you think"

Source

a reply to: korkythecat

It would be interesting to see how these two groups went about solving the issue of containment. They both appear to be doing similar things from the wording used.

a reply to: Maxmars

Military applications regarding this type of technology will come to fruition decades before we see it applied to commercial applications. Directed beam weapons and rail-guns being a priority i imagine.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
Lockheed has already achieved this I believe. It's possible their research has been shared, or that this team independently found a solution. They too use magnetic fields.

The team believe they have found a new way of squeezing atoms together so they fuse and generate energy, in a small-scale magnetic device.

As a result, they aim to build a reactor a 10th the size of current approaches.

They argue that their device, which would fit on the back of a truck, could produce 100 megawatts (MW) of power and use just 25kg of fuel in a year.

www.bbc.com...

More likely they realized Lockheed was on to something and jumped ahead of them cause they have better funding and equipment.

a reply to: Maxmars

Like nuclear fission, fusion also releases ionizing radiation into the environment 24/7. It's not as much radiation, true, but it's happening.

S & F

I just read this right before I logged in.


One step closer.

Die Big oil!!

Die!!!

originally posted by: Uphill
a reply to: Maxmars

Like nuclear fission, fusion also releases ionizing radiation into the environment 24/7. It's not as much radiation, true, but it's happening.

Depends on what the fuel source is. Radiation free fusion is theoretically possible.

www.rsc.org...

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Fascinating! OK, I'll bite, based on what?


Keep in mind the mathematical fact (from trigonometry) that when ionizing radiation is released, it can be shielded against, down to a relatively low level, but never to zero. So says Theodore Rockwell, radiation chemist, who helped US Admiral Rickover develop nuclear submarines and the world's first civilian nuclear power plant.