In my last article, I described a potentially revolutionary approach to generating fusion energy, by impacting super-high-velocity projectiles onto specially designed targets. First Light Fusion, the company pursuing this “projectile fusion” method, has a pulsed power device called “Machine 3” capable of accelerating projectiles up to velocities of 20 kilometers per second, or 75,000 kilometers […]

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In my discussion (published starting here) with Paul Methven, head of Britain’s STEP program to build a first electricity-producing fusion power plant, Methven stressed that the program is open to more than one technological option. While STEP is betting mainly on the spherical tokamak, it is supporting the formation of a “fusion cluster” that will […]

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(As anticipated by the authors of this unique Asia Times article, US presidential envoy John Kerry on Tuesday, December 5, delivered hard-hitting remarks in Dubai as he introduced the new US policy on fusion energy. Watch Kerry’s speech here. Read a Reuters news article here. The background on the how and why of the shift […]

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This is the eighth and final installment in Asia Times Science Editor Jonathan Tennenbaum’s series “Fusion Diary.” Read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, Part 5, Part 6 and Part 7. In colloquial language, one might say, “When it comes to tokamaks, its all about magnets.” That is not literally true, but certainly the design and performance of a […]

The post Fusion Diary: the magnet wizards appeared first on Asia Times.

This is the seventh installment in Asia Times Science Editor Jonathan Tennenbaum’s series “Fusion Diary.” Read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, Part 5 and Part 6. During my August visit to nuclear fusion facilities in the UK, I spent an afternoon at Tokamak Energy Ltd, one of the world’s leading private fusion companies. Tokamak Energy’s basic strategy […]

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This is the sixth installment in Asia Times Science Editor Jonathan Tennenbaum’s series “Fusion Diary.” Read a series introduction, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4. and Part 5. Part 6 is the conclusion of an interview with Paul Methven, director of Great Britain’s Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) program. In Parts 4 and 5 Methven describes the challenges […]

The post Fusion Diary: from submarines to fusion reactors appeared first on Asia Times.

This is the fifth installment in Asia Times Science Editor Jonathan Tennenbaum’s series “Fusion Diary.” Read a series introduction, part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4. Part 5 is a continuation of an August 22, 2023, interview with Paul Methven, director of Great Britain’s Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) program. Jonathan Tennenbaum: […]

The post Fusion planners must allow for technological surprises appeared first on Asia Times.

This is the fourth installment in Asia Times Science Editor Jonathan Tennenbaum’s series “Fusion Diary.” For an introduction to the series, readers are encouraged to start with “US abandoning its leadership in fusion energy,” by Matthew Moynihan and Alfred B Bortz. Then read part 1 of the series here, part 2 here and part 3 here. On […]

The post Fusion Diary: An ‘Apollo Program’ for fusion appeared first on Asia Times.

This is the third installment in Asia Times’ Science Editor Jonathan Tennenbaum’s series “Fusion Diary.” For an introduction to the series, readers are encouraged to start with “US abandoning its leadership in fusion energy,” by Matthew Moynihan and Alfred B Bortz. Then read part 1 of the series here and part 2 here. In its national […]

The post Fusion Diary: the spherical tokamak story appeared first on Asia Times.

This is the second installment in Asia Times Science Editor Jonathan Tennenbaum’s series “Fusion Diary.” For an introduction to the series, readers are encouraged to start with “US abandoning its leadership in fusion energy,” by Matthew Moynihan and Alfred B Bortz. Then read part 1 of the series here. – eds I am standing in […]

The post Visiting the world’s largest fusion reactor appeared first on Asia Times.

This is the first installment in Asia Times’ Science Editor Jonathan Tennenbaum’s series “Fusion Diary.” For an introduction to the series, readers are encouraged to start with a piece published earlier this month, “US abandoning its leadership in fusion energy,” by Matthew Moynihan and Alfred B Bortz. – eds  Fusion is maturing rapidly. In August […]

The post Fusion Diary: Inside Britain’s race to fusion appeared first on Asia Times.

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a gigantic tokamak fusion device, has been hailed as the greatest single cooperative scientific endeavor in history, involving thousands of scientists and engineers from 35 nations. A marvel of engineering, when completed ITER is intended for the first time to demonstrate large-scale net energy production by fusion reactions and […]

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The Japanese government has opted to build up a huge domestic fusion industry to secure a leading role in the future commercial utilization of fusion power.

This policy is clearly set forth in a document published on April 14 by the Japanese Cabinet, entitled “Fusion Energy Innovation Strategy.” The new policy goes far beyond merely stepping up the participation of Japanese industry and scientific institutes in international projects.

The explicit intention is to create the industrial and manpower base for Japan to build – and no doubt export – its own commercial fusion plants, if possible in advance of other industrial nations.

One cannot help but recall the way the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) famously built up Japan’s industry, systematically, sector by sector, starting in 1949. The new “Fusion Innovation Strategy” is solidly rooted in Japan’s industrial policy tradition.

At first glance, the new policy still seems oriented to the “ultra-conservative” scenario, according to which the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a giant tokamak reactor now under construction, will provide the essential scientific and engineering basis, by around 2035, for designing and constructing a first prototype fusion power plant, the DEMO, likewise as an international project.

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This is the third and final installment of a three-part series. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. The landmark successes of the EAST tokamak are propelling China into the leading position worldwide in the field of magnetic fusion. The reactor’s advanced design, the excellence and creativity demonstrated by the EAST team and the […]

The post EAST reactor puts China on fusion’s leading edge appeared first on Asia Times.

This is the second installment in a three-part series. Read part one here. Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST, designated HT-7U in the Chinese fusion program) is located at the Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei, the capital of Anhui province. EAST is the first tokamak device using exclusively superconducting coils. (France’s Tore Supra, in some […]

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This is the first installment of a three part series. Thanks in large part to the accomplishments of the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), China has propelled itself to the forefront of international research on magnetic confinement fusion. Utilizing powerful magnetic fields to confine a hot plasma inside its toroidal vacuum chamber, the Hefei-based EAST […]

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The astonishing performance of recent so-called “large language models” – first and foremost OpenAI’s ChatGPT series – has raised expectations that systems able to match the cognitive capabilities of human beings, or even possess “superhuman” intelligence, may soon become a reality. At the same time, experts in artificial intelligence are sounding dire warnings about the […]

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The US Department of Defense and numerous private commentators allege that Russian-Chinese cooperation on fast breeder reactors will provide plutonium for large numbers of Chinese nuclear weapons. Assistant Secretary of Defense John Plumb told Congressional hearings on March 8: “It’s very troubling to see Russia and China cooperating on this. They may have talking points […]

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This is the last of a five-part series on climate science. Read part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4. The just-published book Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters has raised a furor. Authored by Steven Koonin, physicist and former chief scientist of the US Department of Energy, the volume […]

The post What climate change models can’t tell us appeared first on Asia Times.

This is the fourth of a five-part series on climate science. Read part 1, part 2 and part 3. Here we continue our interview with Dr Steven Koonin, chief scientist in the US Department of Energy during the Barack Obama administration and author of the just-published book, Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What it Doesn’t, and […]

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