More fusion progress reprted.
Scientists make breakthrough with nuclear fusion record in DW
European researchers have leaped closer to making nuclear fusion a practical energy source for humanity. It's the same power-generating process that makes stars, including our own sun, shine. Scientists announced progress on Wednesday in the mission to make nuclear fusion a safe, practical, and clean energy source — smashing the record for the amount of nuclear fusion energy produced.
The experiment at the Joint European Torus (JET) facility near Oxford, England, set a record of generating 59 megajoules of sustained fusion energy in a five-second period — well over double the previous amount.
What is nuclear fusion?
The fusion process is a reverse of what happens in existing nuclear power plants — nuclear fission — where energy is released when large atoms are broken down into smaller ones. Nuclear fusion comes from bashing together two small atomic nuclei at such high temperatures that they fuse — and release energy.
The nuclei would normally repel one another, so unimaginably high temperatures are needed to make them move quickly enough to actually collide. It's the same basic process that sees hydrogen in the sun converted into helium, generating sunlight and making life on Earth possible.
Fusion offers the prospect of climate-friendly, abundant energy without pollution, radioactive waste. ... '
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