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☆ Inside the Quest to Make Fusion Energy a Reality
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-15 | by ( Raymond Zhong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +15 min

The Quest to Build a Star on Earth Start-ups say we’re closer than ever to near-limitless, zero-carbon energy from fusion. Today’s fusion start-ups aren’t just preparing for this moment in the lab. Such advances helped the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory produce more fusion energy than the energy in the incoming laser beams, for the briefest of moments, in 2022. They also helped European researchers generate record amounts of fusion energy at a facility in Britain last year. What worries researchers is how much some fusion start-ups are promising, and how soon.

Persons: General Atomics, Lawrence, —, Charles Darwin’s, Lord Kelvin, Darwin, Arthur Eddington, Nicolas Tucat, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Vinod Khosla, Sam Altman, Kitty, presale, Gerald Navratil, Navratil, “, it’s, ”, Robert Goldston, you’ve, David James Bartho, Simon Simard, Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr, Stark, Bob Mumgaard, Mumgaard, Brandon Sorbom, Sorbom, “ We’re, Dr, Earl Marmar, Thea Energy, Salvador Dalí, Cary Forest, Grant Hindsley, Richard Magee, “ It’s, Jean Paul Allain, there’s, Steven Cowley, Cowley, ” David Gates, you’d, Gates, ” Thea, Thea, Eos Organizations: Nuclear Fusion Facility, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Agence France, Princeton University, University of Sydney, Underwood Archives, Getty, Fairfax Media, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, SPARC, The New York Times, ARC, Commonwealth, The New York, Dawn Princeton Plasma Physics, tokamaks, That’s, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Energy, Thea, Zap Energy, Helion, Microsoft, General Fusion, West, Technologies, Department of, Princeton Plasma Physics Locations: France, Columbia, Princeton, Harwell , England, Britain, Massachusetts, Russian, Commonwealth, Seattle, Vancouver, Southern California

☆ Nuclear fusion: The US led in this clean energy race for decades. Now China is in position to win
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-19 | by ( Angela Dewan | Ella Nilsen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

It’s also here, on an unassuming downtown street, a small start-up called Energy Singularity is working on something extraordinary: nuclear fusion energy. Nuclear fusion, the process that powers the sun and other stars, is painstakingly finicky to replicate on Earth. The Chinese government is pouring money into the venture, putting an estimated $1 billion to $1.5 billion annually into fusion, according to Jean Paul Allain, who leads the US Energy Department’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences. The US was among the world’s first to move on the futuristic gambit, working on fusion research in earnest since the early 1950s. CNNThe US has been a fusion leader for decades; it was the first nation to apply fusion energy in the real world — in a hydrogen bomb.

Persons: It’s, Lam Yik Fei, Jean Paul Allain, Biden, “, it’s, ” Allain, Andrew Holland, Holland, ”, ” Holland, Damien Jemison, Lawrence, Melanie Windridge, Mikhail Maslov, Allain Organizations: CNN, 6G, Beijing outspends DC, New York Times, US Energy Department’s, Fusion Energy Sciences, Private, Nikkei . Energy, MIT, Fusion Industry Association, Princeton, Physics, American, America, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, ” CNN, China’s National Energy Administration, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Fusion Energy, EAST, UK Atomic Energy Authority Locations: Shanghai, America, China, Beijing, Washington, DC, Japan, Europe, United States, Hefei, Xinhua, Massachusetts, Hiroshima, California, Lawrence Livermore

☆ Nuclear fusion: Scientists just set a new energy record in a step toward unleashing the limitless, clean energy source
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Angela Dewan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —Scientists and engineers near the English city of Oxford have set a nuclear fusion energy record, they announced Thursday, bringing the clean, futuristic power source another step closer to reality. To generate fusion energy, the team raised temperatures in the machine to 150 million degrees Celsius — around 10 times hotter than the core of the sun. An animation showing how tokamaks generate nuclear fusion energy. “Our successful demonstration of operational scenarios for future fusion machines like ITER and DEMO, validated by the new energy record, instil greater confidence in the development of fusion energy,” Fasoli said in a statement. A view of Torus Hall, where the JET tokamak machine lies.

Persons: Ambrogio Fasoli, ” Fasoli, Aneeqa Khan, Khan, ”, Copernicus Organizations: London CNN —, CNN, JET, EUROfusion, United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, University of Manchester Locations: Oxford, France

The United States will work with other governments to speed up efforts to make nuclear fusion a new source of carbon-free energy, U.S. Kerry spoke at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum. In southern France, 35 nations are collaborating on an experimental machine to harness fusion energy, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, to prove the feasibility of fusion as a large-scale, carbon-free source of energy. The global nuclear industry launched an initiative at COP28 for nations to pledge to triple this kind of nuclear energy by 2050. Commonwealth Fusion was founded in 2018 by researchers and students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Plasma Science and Fusion Center.

Persons: John Kerry, ” Kerry, Kerry, Andrew Holland, Dennis Whyte, Whyte, Edwin Lyman, Lyman, Bob Mumgaard, Mumgaard, it's Organizations: Climate, Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum, United Kingdom, United States, International, Reactor, Fusion Industry Association, Dubai, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, United, United Arab Emirates, Fusion, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Commonwealth Fusion, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Plasma Science, MIT, Commonwealth, Plasma Science, Fusion Center, Union of, Scientists, Washington, ARC, SPARC, AP Locations: States, U.S, Dubai, U.N, United States, France, Japan, Europe, China, Russia, Devens , Massachusetts, COP28, United Arab, Commonwealth, California

☆ Start-Ups With Laser Beams: The Companies Trying to Ignite Fusion Energy
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In December last year, after years of trying, the National Ignition Facility, or NIF, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory reported that it had finally lived up to its middle name: ignition. For the first time anywhere, a laser-induced burst of fusion produced more energy than that supplied by the incoming lasers. “We’re really excited by the NIF results,” said Kramer Akli, who manages the fusion energy sciences program at the United States Department of Energy. A decade ago, a report by the National Academy of Sciences found much to like in the energy potential of laser fusion but recommended that the United States hold off major investments until ignition was achieved. The sun generates heat and light by jamming — fusing — hydrogen atoms together into helium.

Persons: We’re, ”, Kramer Akli, arth, ould Organizations: National Ignition Facility, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, United States Department of Energy, National Academy of Sciences Locations: United States

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