Germany's Wendelstein 7X device can handle temperatures up to twice the Sun's core.
Victory lap
A group of nuclear physicists is celebrating what they consider a significant step towards a practical nuclear-fusion reactor.
If scientists can figure out how to make nuclear fusion work, it could be a source of clean energy that will provide an abundance of clean energy, and a path for the transition away fossil fuels. It has been difficult to replicate the kind of reaction that occurs in stars in a controlled environment on Earth. However, Nature published a new research last month that may be a major step in this direction. The Wendelstein 7X nuclear fusion device, made in Germany by physicists, is capable of holding temperatures twice as high than the core Sun's. They are absolutely thrilled.
Novimir Pablant, a Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), coauthor of the study, stated in a press release that it is really good news for fusion. This clearly shows that optimization is possible.
Springing Leaks
The Wendelstein 7X is a device known as a stellarator. This type of plasma containment device was originally developed in the 1950s. However, it quickly fell out of favour because of its complicated and twisted design that is notoriously poor at keeping out heat from a fusion reaction. Many facilities have developed donut-shaped tokamaks that retain heat better, and some tests show they can generate temperatures more than ten times as hot as the Sun's core.
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A practical stellarator could be used to avoid the problems caused by tokamaks that can have difficulty stabilizing the super-hot plasma driving fusion reactions. This prospect has the team very excited.
We have been very excited to be part this exciting experiment at PPPL, as well as all other US collaborating institutions," David Gates, head of Advanced Projects Department at PPPL, said in the release. The work of [Pablants] has been at the heart of this incredible experimental teams effort. Our German colleagues were very kind to allow us to participate.
READ MORE: PPPL physicist confirms major improvement in stellarator performance for fusion [Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory]
Continue reading: Scientists are on the Edge of a Fusion Power Breakthrough
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