Scientists Make Breakthrough in Understanding Nuclear Fusion

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Other Sources, RTGs, Sea Water, Thorium, Helium-3, & Fusion Research

Date posted: 03/16/15

Thor Benson reports that scientists from General Atomics and the U.S. DOE Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory - PPPL - have made a breakthrough in understanding nuclear fusion. They were attempting to figure out how to control potentially damaging heat bursts - ELMs - that regularly occur in a reactor. Researchers were able to use tiny magnetic fields to control the bursts and maintain a safe reaction. Using these magnetic fields, researchers were able to harness heat from the reactor in a controlled manner, rather than through dangerous bursts. The configuration changes suddenly when the plasma is tapped in a certain way, PPPL scientist Raffi Nazikian said, and it is this response that suppresses the ELMs.