Scientists claim to have made yet another step towards the ultimate goal of achieving nuclear fusion, by partially solving an outstanding problem in the field: heat loss.
The research was led by scientists at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, in collaboration with the University of California at San Diego, General Atomics, and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
To make nuclear fusion work, atoms of deuterium need to be “stuck together” to form helium in a super-heated plasma at around 100 million degrees Celsius. Keeping the temperature this high is difficult, though, because turbulence stirs up the plasma, causing heat to dissipate – hence, heat loss.
see: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150925085550.htm regarding “researchers at the University of Gothenburg and the University of Iceland has been to study a new type of nuclear fusion process. This produces almost no neutrons but instead fast, heavy electrons (muons), ”