Researchers fire up fusion research device
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Graduate student Stefan Gerhardt and professor Simon Anderson check a device they use to confine plasma in an electro-magnetic field.
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A fusion research device has been fired up that may lead to the creation of a limitless, clean source of energy, a 14-member team of engineers from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, reported Wednesday.
The device, known as the Helically Symmetric Experiment (HSX), confines plasmas — super-heated, glowing, gas-like matter than can conduct electricity — in a magnetic field. Plasmas are the building blocks for fusion energy.
Fusion is achieved by melding atomic nuclei of two elements under extremely high temperatures. This releases energy without the negative drawbacks of energy created through the process of fission — the splitting apart of atoms, such as in nuclear reactors.
"You don't have radioactive byproducts, you don't have weapons-grade material. It is a much safer and much harder thing to do," said David Anderson, the principal investigator of the project at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
"Making a first plasma is a momentous occasion," said associate scientist Joseph Talmadge, a co-investigator in HSX, who admits that the elation of the team is combined with "tremendous relief."
"Eight years of hard work was on the line," said Anderson.
HSX combines the best attributes of two existing plasma technologies known as tokamaks and stellarators. Tokamaks have achieved the best results to date, but require a strong current in the plasma itself.
Stellarators do not require that current, but they do not produce the magnetic field that confines plasmas to reach the necessary high temperatures — up to 10 million degrees.
The warped donut shape of the HSX solves that problem by achieving symmetry in the magnetic field through its oddly shaped and complex magnet coils. The plasma-confining energy is located in coils outside of the plasma itself, making it more stable and attractive as a reactor.
The HSX was developed with a modest $7.5 million grant from the Department of Energy, the collection of recycled goods from the nation's national research laboratories and help from more than 50 Wisconsin companies.
"Fusion is a long-range technology," said Anderson. While inefficient and expensive fusion reactors have been developed, the technology is decades away from entering the mainstream.
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