Latest news with #fusion
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Researchers make crucial discovery on journey toward limitless energy machine: 'A much more reliable method'
Scientists at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have developed a solution that prevents fusion reactors from overheating, reported. The breakthrough centers on a clever design called the X-point target radiator. This innovation adds a second magnetic control point to tokamak fusion reactors, creating a safety valve that sheds dangerous excess heat before it can damage the reactor walls. Fusion reactors face a massive heat management problem. These doughnut-shaped devices, called tokamaks, use powerful magnetic fields to contain plasma heated to over 100 million degrees Celsius. When this superhot plasma touches the reactor walls, it can cause severe damage that shortens the reactor's lifespan and hurts performance. The Swiss research team discovered that adding a secondary X-point along the reactor's heat exhaust channel creates localized radiation that pulls heat away from sensitive areas. Think of it like adding a second drain to prevent your bathtub from overflowing. "Reducing divertor heat loads is a key challenge for future fusion power plants," Kenneth Lee, first author of the paper, told The EPFL team used its TCV tokamak's unique magnetic shaping abilities to test this concept. Experiments showed the X-point target radiator stays stable across a range of operating conditions, making it much more reliable than previous heat management approaches. "We found that the X-point target radiator is highly stable and can be sustained over a wide range of operational conditions, potentially offering a much more reliable method for handling power exhaust in a fusion power plant," Lee said. Fusion energy could change how we power our world. Unlike coal and gas, fusion creates massive amounts of electricity without producing harmful gases or long-lived radioactive waste. A single fusion plant could power entire cities on fuel extracted from seawater. The X-point target radiator makes fusion power plants more practical by solving the overheating problem that has plagued reactor designs. This means fusion plants could run longer and more efficiently, reducing electricity costs for everyone. Commonwealth Fusion Systems and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology plan to include the X-point target design in their upcoming SPARC reactor, which looks to demonstrate commercial fusion power. Should the government be paying us to upgrade our homes? Definitely Depends on how much it costs Depends on what it's for No way Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Diversifying our energy sources with fusion power would dramatically reduce air pollution from coal and gas plants. Cleaner air means fewer respiratory problems, heart disease cases, and premature deaths in communities near power plants. Fusion power could slash electricity bills once the technology scales up. The fuel comes from abundant hydrogen isotopes found in seawater, making long-term operating costs extremely low. Cities and companies investing in fusion power could reap major savings compared to volatile coal and gas prices. The stable costs of fusion electricity would help businesses plan budgets and keep energy affordable for residents. The SPARC reactor incorporating this heat management technology is scheduled for testing in the coming years. If successful, commercial fusion plants using the X-point target radiator could begin operating in the 2030s. The researchers will continue refining their approach with high-power experiments and simulations. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
MIT spinoff aims to build first-of-its-kind US facility to deliver limitless energy — here's what you need to know
Commonwealth Fusion Systems just filed a permit to build what's being touted as the world's first grid-scale commercial fusion power plant — and the company wants to do it in Chesterfield County, Virginia. The Massachusetts-based company is planning a 400-megawatt facility called ARC to be built at the James River Industrial Park on land leased from Dominion Energy, according to the CFS website. If approved, construction would start in the late 2020s. They're aiming to be up and running in the early 2030s, with a planned operational life of 20 years or more. Fusion is what powers the sun. It works by forcing two small atoms — often the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium — to merge into one and become helium. When that happens, it gives off a ton of energy, without the long-term radioactive waste that comes from nuclear fission. Scientists have been chasing this for decades. Now, it's starting to look more real. If successful, this could mark a major turning point in how we produce and consume energy. The ARC design uses magnets to hold the fusion reaction in place and molten salt to absorb heat, according to reports from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and researchers at the Sapienza University of Rome. Heat captured in the process will turn water into steam, spin a turbine, and generate electricity, as detailed by If it works the way it's designed to, this plant could provide massive amounts of power without relying on dirty energy or producing carbon emissions. It would also create a scalable model for future fusion development in other parts of the country. Commonwealth started assembling the core tech — a tokamak, the magnetic device that makes fusion possible — back in March. That system, called SPARC, is being built in Massachusetts and is expected to go live in 2026. The company spun out of MIT in 2018. It has raised more than $2 billion since and now has over 1,000 employees, according to the CFS website. There are still approvals needed at the county, state, and federal levels — and the technology is under development — but if all goes as planned, the project could reshape what's possible for clean, stable power. Should the U.S. invest more in battery innovations? Absolutely Depends on the project We're investing enough We should invest less Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
CNA
2 days ago
- Business
- CNA
Google strikes deal to buy fusion power from MIT spinoff Commonwealth
WASHINGTON :Alphabet's Google said on Monday it has struck a deal to buy power from a project in Virginia fueled by fusion, the reaction that powers the sun and the stars but is not yet commercial on Earth. Google signed what it called the technology's first direct corporate power purchase agreement with Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a company that spun off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018. The deal is for 200 megawatts of power, about enough to power a small city, from CFS's ARC project that is being developed in Virginia, home to the world's biggest hub of energy-hungry data centers. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Physicists at national laboratories and companies have been trying for decades to use lasers or, in the case of CFS, large magnets to foster fusion reactions, in which light atoms are forced together to release large amounts of energy. In 2022, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California briefly achieved net energy gain in a fusion experiment using lasers. But achieving so-called "engineering break-even," in which more energy comes out of a reaction than the overall energy that goes into a fusion plant to get a reaction going, has been elusive. And for a plant to generate power from fusion, the reactions must be constant, not rare. "Yes, there are some serious physics and engineering challenges that we still have to work through to make it commercially viable and scalable," Michael Terrell, Google's head of advanced energy, told reporters in a call. "But that's something that we want to be investing in now to realize that future." As artificial intelligence and data centers boost power demand around the world, interest in fusion is spiking. Fusion, unlike nuclear fission, in which atoms are split, does not generate large amounts of radioactive waste. In addition, fusion, if successful, could help fight climate change. CFS aims to generate power from the 400 MW project known as ARC in the early 2030s but must first clear the scientific hurdles. "Without partnership and without being bold and setting a goal and going for it, you won't ever reach over those challenges," Bob Mumgaard, CFS's CEO and co-founder, told reporters. He said the ARC plant will teach CFS about the "teething phase" of fusion, in which he expects to learn about how often fusion machines break down and how they can run reliably. Google also said on Monday it was increasing its investment in CFS, but did not disclose the amount. Google was one of many investors that invested a total of $1.8 billion into CFS in 2021. Mumgaard said Google's investment on Monday was "comparable" to its 2021 one.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Google strikes deal to buy fusion power from MIT spinoff Commonwealth
By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Alphabet's Google said on Monday it has struck a deal to buy power from a project in Virginia fueled by fusion, the reaction that powers the sun and the stars but is not yet commercial on Earth. Google signed what it called the technology's first direct corporate power purchase agreement with Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a company that spun off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018. The deal is for 200 megawatts of power, about enough to power a small city, from CFS's ARC project that is being developed in Virginia, home to the world's biggest hub of energy-hungry data centers. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Physicists at national laboratories and companies have been trying for decades to use lasers or, in the case of CFS, large magnets to foster fusion reactions, in which light atoms are forced together to release large amounts of energy. In 2022, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California briefly achieved net energy gain in a fusion experiment using lasers. But achieving so-called "engineering break-even," in which more energy comes out of a reaction than the overall energy that goes into a fusion plant to get a reaction going, has been elusive. And for a plant to generate power from fusion, the reactions must be constant, not rare. "Yes, there are some serious physics and engineering challenges that we still have to work through to make it commercially viable and scalable," Michael Terrell, Google's head of advanced energy, told reporters in a call. "But that's something that we want to be investing in now to realize that future." As artificial intelligence and data centers boost power demand around the world, interest in fusion is spiking. Fusion, unlike nuclear fission, in which atoms are split, does not generate large amounts of radioactive waste. In addition, fusion, if successful, could help fight climate change. CFS aims to generate power from the 400 MW project known as ARC in the early 2030s but must first clear the scientific hurdles. "Without partnership and without being bold and setting a goal and going for it, you won't ever reach over those challenges," Bob Mumgaard, CFS's CEO and co-founder, told reporters. He said the ARC plant will teach CFS about the "teething phase" of fusion, in which he expects to learn about how often fusion machines break down and how they can run reliably. Google also said on Monday it was increasing its investment in CFS, but did not disclose the amount. Google was one of many investors that invested a total of $1.8 billion into CFS in 2021. Mumgaard said Google's investment on Monday was "comparable" to its 2021 one. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Google strikes deal to buy fusion power from MIT spinoff Commonwealth
WASHINGTON, June 30 (Reuters) - Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google said on Monday it has struck a deal to buy power from a project in Virginia fueled by fusion, the reaction that powers the sun and the stars but is not yet commercial on Earth. Google signed what it called the technology's first direct corporate power purchase agreement with Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a company that spun off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018. The deal is for 200 megawatts of power, about enough to power a small city, from CFS's ARC project that is being developed in Virginia, home to the world's biggest hub of energy-hungry data centers. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Physicists at national laboratories and companies have been trying for decades to use lasers or, in the case of CFS, large magnets to foster fusion reactions, in which light atoms are forced together to release large amounts of energy. In 2022, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California briefly achieved net energy gain in a fusion experiment using lasers. But achieving so-called "engineering break-even," in which more energy comes out of a reaction than the overall energy that goes into a fusion plant to get a reaction going, has been elusive. And for a plant to generate power from fusion, the reactions must be constant, not rare. "Yes, there are some serious physics and engineering challenges that we still have to work through to make it commercially viable and scalable," Michael Terrell, Google's head of advanced energy, told reporters in a call. "But that's something that we want to be investing in now to realize that future." As artificial intelligence and data centers boost power demand around the world, interest in fusion is spiking. Fusion, unlike nuclear fission, in which atoms are split, does not generate large amounts of radioactive waste. In addition, fusion, if successful, could help fight climate change. CFS aims to generate power from the 400 MW project known as ARC in the early 2030s but must first clear the scientific hurdles. "Without partnership and without being bold and setting a goal and going for it, you won't ever reach over those challenges," Bob Mumgaard, CFS's CEO and co-founder, told reporters. He said the ARC plant will teach CFS about the "teething phase" of fusion, in which he expects to learn about how often fusion machines break down and how they can run reliably. Google also said on Monday it was increasing its investment in CFS, but did not disclose the amount. Google was one of many investors that invested a total of $1.8 billion into CFS in 2021. Mumgaard said Google's investment on Monday was "comparable" to its 2021 one.
