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The U.K. Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has announced the promising first results of an experiment designed to overcome a major hurdle to harnessing the power of nuclear fusion. We built MAST Upgrade to solve the exhaust problem for compact fusion power plants, lead scientist Andrew Kirk said in a press release, and the signs are that we ve succeeded.
The challenge:Nuclear fusion happens when two hydrogen atoms merge into one, releasing a tremendous amount of energy. Subscribe to Freethink for more stories like this.
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This is the same process that powers the sun, and it s the Holy Grail of clean energy here on Earth it doesn t produce any carbon emissions or long-lasting radioactive waste, and it isn t beholden to environmental conditions, like wind and solar power.
With less heat, the reactor can run longer without replacing ruined parts.
With a revolutionary new heat exhaust system, scientists in England might have just found the key to unlocking a cooler future for nuclear fusion and brought the world one step closer to
actually realizing
☢️
Scientists have worked for decades on different tokamak reactors, or donut-shaped chambers in which atoms are combined (fused, for fusion) to generate plentiful energy. The white-hot plasma can reach 100 million degrees Fahrenheit or more, causing heavy wear and tear on all the components of these reactors.
There are downsides and controversial elements to fusion research. So far, no tokamak reactor has “recouped” its own energy cost not even close! so no one has demonstrated that nuclear fusion even