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Nuclear fusion: new record brings dream of clean energy closer (www.bbc.com)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The new world record has been set at the UK-based JET laboratory.

The result came from the lab's final experiment after more than 40 years of fusion research.

The experiments produced 69 megajoules of energy over five seconds. That is only enough energy for four to five hot baths - so not a lot.

It is clear we are still a long way off from nuclear fusion power plants, but with every experiment it is bringing us one step closer.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Prof Stuart Mangles, Head of the Space, Plasma and Climate Research Community, Imperial College London, said: "The new results from JET's final run are very exciting.

The Joint European Torus (JET) facility, was constructed in Culham in Oxford in the late 1970s and until the end of last year was the world's most advanced experimental fusion reactor.

Prof Ambrogio Fasoli, programme manager at EUROfusion, said: "Our successful demonstration... instils greater confidence in the development of fusion energy.

UK Minister for Nuclear and Networks, Andrew Bowie, said: "JET's final fusion experiment is a fitting swansong after all the ground-breaking work that has gone into the project since 1983.

At the time a spokesperson for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero said: "Given delays to association and the direction of travel of these EU programmes, an alternative approach gives the UK the best opportunity to deliver our fusion strategy."

At the announcement of the record on Thursday, Ian Chapman, from UKAEA, did say that discussions were still ongoing with European partners to see how the UK could be involved with ITER in the future.

The original article contains 769 words, the summary contains 184 words. Saved 76%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!