Prof. Dennis Whyte, director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, speaks with NBC Mach reporter Dan Falk about the possibilities of fusion power. “Fusion will have one of the smallest possible environmental footprints of any power source,” says Whyte. “It will be sustainable for the foreseeable future of mankind.”
Akshat Rathi of Quartz reports that Breakthrough Energy Ventures will invest in Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup collaborating with MIT to make fusion energy a viable source of renewable energy. The closely-watched fund’s investment “signals to others that a breakthrough in fusion may be closer than most think,” writes Rathi.
Physics Today reporter David Kramer highlights how Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), an MIT startup, is on a mission to prove that fusion power is a viable energy source. “CFS benefits from decades of experience by MIT researchers working on high-field, high-plasma-density tokamaks,” notes Kramer.
MIT research scientist John Wright speaks with Hannah Osborne of Newsweek about a new process developed to heat fusion plasma, raising ions to energy levels greater than previously achieved. Wright explains that, “this method may have applications to more efficient heating of the plasma to the temperatures needed to begin the fusion burn.”
Damian Carrington writes for The Guardian that MIT researchers set a new world record for the highest plasma pressure ever recorded using the Alcator C-Mod reactor. Carrington notes that the “MIT record shows that using very high magnetic fields to contain the plasma may be the most promising route to practical nuclear fusion reactors.”
MIT researchers have found that two types of turbulence within plasma could explain the heat loss that takes place in fusion reactors, reports Thomas Tamblyn for The Huffington Post. “With the mystery solved, researchers can now better understand how the plasma reacts and then in turn start working on fundamental ways to combat it.”
Olga Kharif writes for Bloomberg Businessweek that MIT researchers have proposed a new design for a smaller and cheaper fusion reactor. The prototype "builds on the design of fusion reactors that use magnetic fields to squeeze superhot plasma, fusing atoms of hydrogen to produce energy."
Don Willmott writes for The Huffington Post about a theoretical design for a compact fusion reactor created by MIT researchers. “The MIT reactor should ultimately be able to produce five to six times the energy it consumes, MIT's scientists say, about 190 megawatts,” explains Willmott.
Andrew Revkin writes for The New York Times about a compact design for a fusion reactor that could make fusion power a possibility within a decade. Revkin highlights how the research originated from an MIT course, writing, “it’s exciting to see academia integrating directly with innovation on this scale.”
“With the push of a button Monday, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology resumed efforts to try to harness the process that powers the sun — nuclear fusion — in the hope of developing a stable, nonpolluting source of energy,” reports The Boston Globe’s Erin Ailworth on the restarting of MIT’s Alcator C-mod fusion reactor.
WBUR reports that, “now that federal funding has been restored for a fusion energy research project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is proposing long-term funding for the project.”
WBUR’s Bruce Gellerman reports on the restoration of funding to MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, “where for the past 20 years scientists have conducted experiments using a reactor known as “Alcator C-Mod” to create and control the energy source of the stars.”