Breakthrough in fusion research

WASHINGTON, JULY 23. The scientists in the United States claim to have achieved a breakthrough in fusion research which could provide the world unlimited energy from hydrogen - the energy that powers the sun - recovered from the most abundant source on earth, water.

Scientists at Diii-D National Fusion Facility in San Diego claim to have taken a significant step towards that goal by nearly doubling usual sustainable pressure of hot gaseous fuel inside a doughnut-shaped ``tokamak'' reactor (originally designed by the Russians and shared with the U.S.), media reports have said.

The tokamak ``magnetic confinement'' method used in San Diego features a doughnut-shaped chamber, surrounded by a powerful magnetic field and filled with the hydrogen isotope deuterium. For any of this to be practical, the reaction must be sustained long enough to allow heat from the newly created helius nuclei inside the chamber to maintain the temperature required for fusion to continue on its own.

- PTI

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Section  : International
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