Fusion research refers to the scientific exploration and development of a process known as nuclear fusion, which involves merging atoms together to create energy. Scientists study and experiment with different methods and technologies in order to achieve controlled fusion reactions that can produce abundant clean energy. The aim is to find a way to harness fusion power, similar to how the Sun produces energy, to provide a sustainable and highly efficient source of electricity for the future.
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And its contributions are greatly anticipated for achieving new developments
in fusion research around the world.
Identifying their causes and finding remedies has been one of the main fields of endeavor, particularly in the early days
of fusion research.
This was powered by an optical laser, as large as a building, which had been built
for fusion research.
Considering the obvious benefits of fusion energy and the considerable efforts spent trying to attain them, why has
n't fusion research so far produced better results?
An unfortunate problem today is that many people in
fusion research believe that producing a fusion - something that simply works is the goal, but that is definitely wrong!
After my experience
in fusion research and many other energy technologies, I feel that I've learned where we might look for practical fusion power.
The program saw an increase in 2015 partly as a result of Congress's desire to maintain a domestic
fusion research program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
But ITER is almost comically overbudget and behind schedule, and some members of Congress want the United States to pull out, in part because ITER spending threatens
domestic fusion research programs.
Acting on two (of 12) spending bills under its jurisdiction, the panel agreed on Wednesday to increase the president's request for
fusion research at the Department of Energy by a total of $ 76 million, including $ 48 million more for the domestic program and $ 28 million for the U.S. contribution to the ITER fusion reactor being built in France.
Even though DOE promised to limit spending on ITER to $ 225 million a year so as not to starve domestic
fusion research efforts, that statement irked Senators Dianne Feinstein (D — CA) and Lamar Alexander (R — TN), the chair and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, respectively.
Fusion energy research would get a 4 % increase, to $ 395 million, including $ 63 million for the ITER
fusion research reactor now under construction in France.
At the JET nuclear
fusion research facility, in the UK near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, lidar Thomson Scattering is used to determine Electron Density and Temperature profiles of the plasma.
The details won't be out for another week, but in their version of the 2013 budget for the Department of Energy (DOE), legislators on a spending panel in the House of Representatives would reverse dramatic cuts to the
U.S. fusion research program that the White House proposed in February.
There will also be lectures by top physicists and engineers that will offer a more in - depth look at the magnetic
fusion research taking place at PPPL and some of the related projects.
OTA's staff consists mostly of scientists and engineers who deliver some 40 to 50 technical reports a year to Congress on everything
from fusion research to Indian archaeology.
Just a small fraction of the many # billions spent each year on subsidising the extremely inefficient renewable energy sector could finance instead an array of projects like ITER — the
European fusion research programme — where currently many countries now share just one.
Together with the University of Greifswald, IPP runs the Max Planck International Research School on «Bounded Plasmas,» an interdisciplinary graduate school that combines plasma physics
with fusion research, computational physics, and surface science.
The Obama Administration has proposed slashing spending on the domestic
fusion research by 16 % in the 2013 fiscal year that begins on 1 October and is using the savings to help pay for the U.S. contribution to the international fusion experiment ITER, under construction in Cadarache, France.
The recent success of the U.S. government - funded National Ignition Facility in generating a laser - assisted fusion reaction where the hydrogen - based fuel served up as much energy as was directed at it is not so much competition as a source of credibility for a
global fusion research effort that «has had some false starts,» Gilliland says.
Read about the
latest fusion research efforts at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) home page.
Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen (R - NJ) is questioning DOE's plans to
cut fusion research budget.
At a hearing yesterday on
fusion research held by the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Representative Paul Tonko (D — NY) noted that LLE had been «targeted for severe cuts» in the budget request.
Now, with tight funds, waning public patience and an increasingly urgent need for solutions to climate change,
fusion research faces uncomfortable questions of which direction to go, how to get there and what gets left behind.
While the science office also funds some
inertial fusion research, research on other techniques is supported by the department's National Nuclear Security Administration because inertial fusion can also be used to simulate nuclear explosions.
Most fusion research focuses on magnetic confinement, using powerful electromagnets to contain a thin plasma of hydrogen isotopes and heat it until the nuclei fuse.
In fact, some of the more promising technologies involved with nuclear
fusion research use magnetic fields to contain plasmas.
Still, the payoff could be huge: While
mainstream fusion research programs are still decades from fruition, Lerner claims he requires just $ 750,000 in funding and two years of work to prove his process generates more energy than it consumes.
After a year and a half of tense diplomacy and secret discussions, an international
fusion research collaboration has finally chosen a site for the world's most expensive experiment.
But unlike magnetically
confined fusion research, laser fusion experiments in the US, Britain and France have been funded by the military as a way to study the physics of thermo - nuclear weapons.
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When fusion research began in earnest 30 years ago, people simply did not appreciate the complexity and subtlety of the science of plasmas, and the concomitant depth of understanding that would be needed to make controlled fusion work.
For a reality check on Shiva Star, I spoke with Jaeyoung Park, an experimental physicist who has taken leave from Los Alamos to join a small team in Santa Fe that is pursuing its
own fusion research.
Some lawmakers say it may be time for the United States to bow out, especially as the growing ITER commitment threatens to starve U.S. -
based fusion research programs.
This study was conducted under the auspices of the International Tokamak Physics Activity, an agreement organized by ITER to help
develop fusion research.
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