Researchers of the FOM Institute DIFFER[ have discovered that the wall material of a fusion reactor can shield itself from high energy plasma bursts. The wall material tungsten seems to expel a cloud of cooling hydrogen particles ...
General Physics
Mar 24, 2014
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The superconductivity research group of the University of Twente (UT) has made a technological breakthrough crucial to the success of nuclear fusion reactors, allowing for clean, inexhaustible energy generation based on the ...
General Physics
Dec 19, 2013
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(Phys.org) —Nanostructures, such as graphene and carbon nanotubes, can develop under far extremer plasma conditions than was previously thought. Plasmas (hot, charged gases) are already widely used to produce interesting ...
Nanophysics
Nov 28, 2013
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The reactor walls of future fusion reactors will absorb fusion fuel one million times slower than previous research had indicated. A layer of bound hydrogen on the surface of the tungsten wall seems to protect the deeper ...
General Physics
Nov 27, 2013
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A team of Chinese and American scientists has learned how to maintain high fusion performance under steady conditions by exploiting a characteristic of the plasma itself: the plasma self-generates much of the electrical current ...
Plasma Physics
Nov 13, 2013
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A longstanding joke holds that practical fusion power is about 20 years away—and always will be. One simple phenomenon explains why practical, self-sustaining fusion reactions have proved difficult to achieve: Turbulence ...
Plasma Physics
Apr 29, 2013
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Eighteen-year-old Taylor Wilson has designed a compact nuclear reactor that could one day burn waste from old atomic weapons to power anything from homes and factories to space colonies.
Energy & Green Tech
Mar 1, 2013
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(Phys.org)—Using ESA's Cluster quartet of satellites as a space plasma microscope, scientists have zoomed in on the solar wind to reveal the finest detail yet, finding tiny turbulent swirls that could play a big role in ...
Space Exploration
Dec 19, 2012
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(Phys.org)—New hardware lets engineers maintain the plasma used in fusion reactors in an energy-efficient, stable manner, making the system potentially attractive for use in fusion power plants.
General Physics
Oct 11, 2012
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The most unambiguous data to date on the elusive 113th atomic element has been obtained by researchers at the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-based Science (RNC). A chain of six consecutive alpha decays, produced in ...
Condensed Matter
Sep 26, 2012
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