A team of scientists has just landed a massive grant to build materials strong enough to withstand the blistering heat and radiation inside a fusion reactor, where temperatures soar beyond 180 million degrees Fahrenheit (100 million degrees Celsius).
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) allocated USD 2.3 million to the University of Kentucky to lead the development of next-generation materials that could make commercial fusion power a reality.
Moltex’s WATSS technology transforms nuclear waste into a valuable energy resource, offering a cost-effective solution for the industry.
France just achieved a nuclear fusion breakthrough, making limitless energy virtually inevitable.
In a major achievement, France’s WEST Tokamak reactor has maintained a plasma reaction for over 22 minutes, setting a new world record in the quest for sustainable fusion energy.
énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), the experiment surpassed China’s previous record of 1,066 seconds, reaching 1,337 seconds of sustained plasma. + This milestone is a major step toward commercial fusion power, which promises unlimited, clean energy by harnessing the same process that powers the Sun. The challenge lies in achieving a self-sustaining reaction while maintaining extreme temperatures of up to 150 million°C (270 million°F) without damaging reactor components.
While WEST itself won’t become a commercial reactor, the data gathered will be instrumental in developing ITER, the world’s largest fusion project, currently under construction in southern France.
CEA scientists plan to extend reaction times further, increasing power levels and plasma stability. If successful, these advancements could bring humanity closer to realizing the long-held dream of clean, virtually limitless energy, potentially transforming global power generation in the future.
Renewable energy in Japan will receive a seismic shift via perovskite solar cells, the latest development that would change the way solar energy is viewed. Lightweight, flexible, and adaptable, these solar cells will provide a more viable means to producing energy within a city, responding to shortages of land and sustainable issues. Let’s see how Japan is benefiting from the PSC technology to bring about a green future.
Japan is currently utilizing its competitive advantages to lead the rest of the world into the new renewable energy age. Under its revised energy plan, the Ministry of Industry now prioritizes PSCs on Section 0 of its plan wherein Japan aims to develop PSC sections generating 20 gigawatts of electricity equivalent to 20 nuclear reactors by fiscal 2040.
The strategy was designed to be closely aligned with the country’s commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050. At the center of this strategy is Japan’s position as the second-largest iodine producer in the world, a necessary ingredient in the manufacturing of perovskite solar cells.
(Yicai) March 3 — China Fusion Energy, a state-owned pioneer in an experimental technology to produce unlimited amounts of clean energy by replicating processes of the sun, has gained almost CNY1.8 billion (USD240.3 million) in investment from two major power companies.
China Nuclear Power, another affiliate of Beijing-headquartered China National Nuclear Corporation, invested CNY1 billion into Fusion Energy, while Zhejiang province-based thermal power giant Zheneng Electric Power allocated CNY750 million (USD102.8 million), the two investors announced recently.
After these transactions, CNNC remains the largest shareholder of Fusion Energy, which is expected to receive more investment from state-owned enterprises in the future.
Researchers have developed a battery capable of converting nuclear energy into electricity through light emission, according to a new study.
Nuclear power plants generate about 20% of the electricity in the United States and produce minimal greenhouse gas emissions. However, they also generate radioactive waste, which poses risks to human health and the environment, making safe disposal a significant challenge.
To address this, a team led by researchers from The Ohio State University designed a system that harnesses ambient gamma radiation to generate electricity. By combining scintillator crystals—high-density materials that emit light when exposed to radiation—with solar cells, they successfully converted nuclear energy into an electric output powerful enough to run microelectronics, such as microchips.
The advancement can enable turbulent analysis of entire nuclear fusion reactors.
“By utilizing deep learning on GPUs, we have reduced computation time by a factor of 1,000 compared to traditional CPU-based codes,” said the joint research team.
“This advancement represents a cornerstone for digital twin technologies, enabling turbulent analysis of entire nuclear fusion reactors or replicating real Tokamaks in a virtual computing environment.”
Researchers underlined that the proposed FPL-net can solve the FPL equation in a single step, achieving results 1,000 times faster than previous methods with an error margin of just one-hundred-thousandth, demonstrating exceptional accuracy.
Researchers at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory are exploring how deuterium, a potential fusion fuel, interacts with boron-coated walls in fusion reactors. Their discoveries about fuel retention and the problematic role of carbon in trapping fuel are paving the way for more efficient fusion systems, such as ITER in France.
