Latest Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Stories
Researchers at a recent worldwide conference on fusion power have confirmed the surprising accuracy of a new model for predicting the size of a key barrier to fusion that a top scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has developed. The model could serve as a starting point for overcoming the barrier. “This allows you to depict the size of the challenge so you can think through what needs to be done to overcome it,” said physicist Robert...
An instrument developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has enabled a research team at a fusion energy experiment in China to observe--in startling detail--how a particular type of electromagnetic wave known as a radiofrequency (RF) wave affects the behavior of hot ionized gas. In the experiment at EAST (the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak located at the Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei, China), scientists...
Coaxial helicity injection could make fusion reactors cheaperResearchers at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory have successfully used Coaxial Helicity Injection (CHI) to generate plasma current and couple it to a conventional current generation method at the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) fusion experiment. After coupling, the combined process generated 1 million amperes of current using 40 percent less energy than needed to generate this current using the conventional means...
News from the 52nd annual meeting of the APS Division of Plasma PhysicsPhysicists working on the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory are now one step closer to solving one of the grand challenges of magnetic fusion research"”how to reduce the effect that the hot plasma has on fusion machine walls (or how to tame the plasma-material interface). Some heat from the hot plasma core of a fusion energy device escapes the plasma and can interact...
Researchers have discovered mechanisms critical to interactions between hot plasma and surfaces facing the plasma inside a thermonuclear fusion reactor, part of work aimed at developing coatings capable of withstanding the grueling conditions inside the reactors.Fusion powers the stars and could lead to a limitless supply of clean energy. A fusion power plant would produce 10 times more energy than a conventional nuclear fission reactor, and because the deuterium fuel is contained in...
A new experiment that reproduces the magnetic fields of the Earth and other planets has yielded its first significant results. The findings confirm that its unique approach has some potential to be developed as a new way of creating a power-producing plant based on nuclear fusion "” the process that generates the sun's prodigious output of energy.Fusion has been a cherished goal of physicists and energy researchers for more than 50 years. That's because it offers the possibility of nearly...
The U.S. Department of Energy says it is seeking a contractor to manage and operate its Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J. Department officials say their Request for Proposals says the laboratory receives approximately $78 million annually from the Energy Department. The RFP marks the first competition for a contractor to run the laboratory. Officials said the contract will have an initial five-year base term, starting about Dec. 15, with the contractor assuming full...
