fusion

A New Fusion Prototype Floats Into Action

November 12, 2024
Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

Many fusion energy start-ups talk about trying to replicate the awesome power of the sun. But only one is also trying to replicate the sun’s structure, by having the reactor’s most important component—a powerful magnet—float in a vacuum, surrounded by a ball of thermonuclear glowing gas.Two weeks ago, OpenStar Technologies…

October 28, 2024
Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

For a machine that’s designed to replicate a star, the world’s newest stellarator is a surprisingly humble-looking apparatus. The kitchen-table-size contraption sits atop stacks of bricks in a cinder-block room at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) in Princeton, N.J., its parts hand-labeled in marker. The PPPL team invented this…

August 17, 2024
Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

Superconductors have for decades spurred dreams of extraordinary technological breakthroughs, but many practical applications for them have remained out of reach. Now a new study reveals what may be the world’s highest-performing high-temperature superconducting wires yet, ones that carry 50 percent as much current as the previous record-holder. Scientists add…

29 Mar 24

Fusion Tech Finds Geothermal Energy Application

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

The upper 10 kilometers of the Earth’s crust contains vast geothermal reserves, essentially awaiting human energy consumption to begin to tap into its unstinting power output—which itself yields no greenhouse gasses. And yet, geothermal sources currently produce only three-tenths of one percent of the world’s electricity. This promising energy source…

07 Feb 24

Momentary Fusion Breakthroughs Face Hard Reality

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

The dream of fusion power inched closer to reality in December 2022, when researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) revealed that a fusion reaction had produced more energy than what was required to kick-start it. According to new research, the momentary fusion feat required exquisite choreography and extensive preparations,…

10 Nov 23

UK signs major deal with the US to develop nuclear fusion technology

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

The UK has signed a deal with the US to further research into advanced fusion energy as part of efforts to tackle the climate crisis. In a joint statement, the UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the US Department of Energy said that fusion could provide…

03 Aug 23

Fusion Is Having a Moment

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

As Earth’s inhabitants suffer through what may wind up being the hottest year on record, there’s a Promethean spark of hope. Virtually unlimited fusion energy appears to be, if not right around the corner, at least within hailing distance.Last December, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility finally succeeded in…

15 Jul 23

This Fusion Reactor Is Held Together With Tape

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

On the site of a former U.S. Army Reserve base near Boston, an unusual structure is rising from the rolling hills. Brandon Sorbom, the scientific director of Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), leads me toward the center of the building’s cross-shaped footprint, weaving among scaffolding, forklifts, and teams of welders and…

29 Jun 23

Welcome to Fusion City, USA

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

The future of carbon-free energy smells like teriyaki and sounds like a low-flying 737. A sleepy strip mall beside Boeing’s sprawling campus in Everett, WA isn’t necessarily where you’d expect to find technology promising to harness the power of the sun, release humanity from the grip of fossil fuels, and…

11 May 23

Microsoft to be powered partly by fusion energy from 2028

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Bill Gates' Microsoft has become the first Big Tech company to sign a power purchase agreement with a nuclear fusion company. Fusion is based on the same physical reactions that power the sun and stars, which create energy by forcing atoms together. It is the opposite of standard nuclear reactors which rely on…

A New Fusion Prototype Floats Into Action

Nuclear Fusion’s New Idea: An Off-the-Shelf Stellarator

Superconducting Wire Sets New Current Capacity Record

Fusion Tech Finds Geothermal Energy Application

Momentary Fusion Breakthroughs Face Hard Reality

UK signs major deal with the US to develop nuclear fusion technology

Fusion Is Having a Moment

This Fusion Reactor Is Held Together With Tape

Welcome to Fusion City, USA

Microsoft to be powered partly by fusion energy from 2028

Google won two major awards at MWC Barcelona 2025.

Expanding AI Overviews and introducing AI Mode

This MRI Can Run on Batteries

The Tiny Star Explosions Powering Moore’s Law