Alcator C-Mod tokamak nuclear fusion reactor at MIT, sets world record.
The new record set at the custom-built Alcator C-Mod reactor at MIT, stands at 2.05 atmospheres – a 15 percent jump over the previous record.
Above, inside the Alcator C-Mod t MIT. Credit: Bob Mumgaard/Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Pressure, which is the product of density and temperature, accounts for about two-thirds of the challenge. The amount of power produced increases with the square of the pressure — so doubling the pressure leads to a fourfold increase in energy production.
A 360 degree tour of the Alcator C-Mod tokamak, the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center’s fusion experiment:
Other fusion experiments conducted in reactors similar to Alcator have reached these temperatures, but at pressures closer to 1 atmosphere; MIT’s results exceeded the next highest pressure achieved in non-Alcator devices by approximately 70 percent.
Fusion power is the generation of energy by nuclear fusion. Fusion reactions are high energy reactions in which two lighter atomic nuclei fuse to form a heavier nucleus. This major area of plasma physics research is concerned with harnessing this reaction as a source of large scale sustainable energy. There is no question of fusion’s scientific feasibility, since stellar nucleosynthesis is the process in which stars transmute matter into energy emitted as radiation.
via futurism
source MIT
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