Kendal, UK. Photo by Jonny Gios on Unsplash.
Fusion is the process by which two nuclei combine to form one heavier nucleus. Fusion also yields massive amounts of energy and is the same process that powers the Sun. For decades, scientists have endeavored to replicate fusion in a commercially viable way. If they can, humankind will have an abundant source of clean energy.
Recent progress on this effort occurred in the UK. The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) successfully completed a crucial step in its development of the UK’s flagship fusion machine. Engineers installed a 12-ton double beam box at UKAEA’s Culham Campus. This addition is expected to double the machine’s heating power from 4.4 megawatts to 8.8 megawatts. The higher heat will allow UKAEA scientists to investigate the technological requirements of the machine in that more extreme condition.
Collaboration among entities is helping to achieve the technological advances necessary to make commercial fusion energy a reality. Thea Energy and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) last week announced an example of such collaboration. The two entities will test a component of Thea’s Eos stellarator at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
One hopes that these efforts, and many like them occurring around the globe to make fusion energy commercially viable, will come to fruition. It is difficult to overstate the societal benefits of such an abundant source of clean energy.
Rockport, Massachusetts. Photo by Johanna Robinson on Unsplash.