Nuclear fusion is unlimited clean power. So when can we have it?
Scientists have been trying to understand — and mimic — the way the sun produces energy for centuries. But recreating nuclear fusion on Earth presents an array of technical challenges. It involves merging atoms in a process that generates temperatures above 100 million degrees Celsius, and building a reactor that can handle those temperatures and produce more energy than it consumes.
Bob Mumgaard, chief executive officer of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, started working on some of those technical questions as a doctoral student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. CFS grew out of that work. “We knew that if you could build very strong magnets, you could put it in the realm of commercially doable,” Mumgaard tells Akshat Rathi on this week’s Zero podcast.
Backed by more than $2 billion in investment dollars, CFS is now well on its way to making the long-held dream of nuclear fusion a reality. Rathi sat down with Mumgaard to talk about the science underpinning the company’s approach, and why he thinks the industry is just getting started.
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Project Intern at CarbonSolutions.com
1 个月Don't we already have it, safely 8 light-minutes away, as the sun?
Director, Elan MEP Ltd.
1 个月An interesting fact on this is that your body creates as much heat as the same mass at the centre of the sun. The sun is of course huge though.
Electrical Worker at IBEW, Energy and Water Efficiency Consultant at Environmental Energy
1 个月$2 billion? I thought it was free. How much have we spent so far and how much power have we used in experiments? Way too much! We have free solar power already.
???? Critical Thinking and Core Values Mentor
1 个月You can't cheat Karma and Physics! Nuclear Fusion - A Dangerous Distraction? As an ex physics researcher I found this insightful - Former fusion scientist on why we won't have fusion power by 2040 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JurplDfPi3U What No One Else Is Telling You About Nuclear Fusion - Tech for Luddites https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrUWoywZRt8