Controlled Nuclear Fusion One Step Closer Thanks To Sandia April
Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Researchers at
the Sandia National Laboratories have completed successful
preliminary tests on magnetically imploded tubes called liners,
which are intended to help produce controlled nuclear fusion at
scientific “break-even” energies or better within the next few
years. The results of this research will be published in
Physical Review Letters (PRL). Scientific break-even is one of
the major performance measurements in fusion energy research.
For example: in steady-state magnetic confinement fusion,
scientific break-even means that the fusion power produced in a
plasma matches the external heating power applied to the plasma
to sustain it. Exceeding scientific break-even is the most hotly
sought after goal of fusion research. By exceeding break-even,
the energy released by a fusion reaction would be greater than
the energy put into it – an achievement that would have
extraordinary energy and defens