First Light Fusion, a startup based in the United Kingdom, has achieved a new record for nuclear fusion pressure using a novel new approach, Interesting Engineering reported.
The breakthrough could have major implications for the entire nuclear power industry, one of the most promising sources of clean energy.
First Light Fusion was able to reach 1.85 terapascals of pressure with its advanced pulsed machine, breaking the previous record of 1.5 terapascals achieved by the Z Machine at Sandia National Laboratories, located in New Mexico.
Unlike most existing forms of nuclear power generation, First Light Fusion’s new machine uses something called “inertial confinement fusion” instead of lasers and magnetic confinement. For more detailed scientific info on how that works, you can check out this roughly 30-minute explainer video.
Interesting Engineering described First Light Fusion’s method as being “analogous to, but different from” how fusion occurs in the sun.
Not only was this new method able to achieve more fusion pressure than ever before, but the company also said it could produce energy more cheaply and efficiently.
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“This method is simpler, cheaper, and more energy-efficient than approaches requiring complex and expensive lasers, reducing the physics risk,” First Light Fusion said, per the news report.
To test its machine, the company used the Z Machine, whose record it was breaking.
“With peak power exceeding 80 trillion watts, the Z Machine electromagnetically launches projectiles faster than any other facility globally,” First Light Fusion said to Recharge News, per Interesting Engineering. That level of power was more than is currently generated by grids worldwide.
Although nuclear energy is often viewed negatively due to its associations with meltdown disasters like the ones at Chernobyl and Fukushima, its possibilities for generating huge amounts of energy with zero planet-overheating emissions are very exciting.
Experts say that it is much safer than people generally tend to believe — responsible for far fewer deaths and health problems than those caused by pollution from dirty fuels — and with the science around it being constantly advanced, it is only getting safer.
Also, as the International Atomic Energy Agency has noted, nuclear fusion is different from the nuclear fission process that produces energy today, and it does not have the same dangers. That said, nuclear fusion’s availability for commercial power production is still considered to be a long way away.
The United States, China, and other countries are currently investing in nuclear power facilities that make use of various types of new technology in an effort to increase their capacity to provide clean energy to the grid.
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