German Physicists Reach Milestone In Nuclear Fusion Energy Quest [View all]
A German nuclear fusion experiment has produced a special super-hot gas which scientists hope will eventually lead to clean, cheap energy.
The helium plasma - a cloud of loose, charged particles - lasted just a tenth of a second and was about one million degrees Celsius.
It was hailed as a breakthrough for the Max Planck Institute's
stellarator - a chamber whose design differs from the tokamak fusion devices used elsewhere.
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The team at Greifswald, in northeastern Germany, aim in future to heat hydrogen nuclei to about 100 million C - the necessary conditions for fusion to take place like in the Sun's interior. They will use deuterium, a heavier type, or isotope, of the element.
The stellarator's plasma was created on Thursday using a microwave laser, a complex combination of magnets and just 10mg of helium. The Max Planck Institute calls its machine Wendelstein 7-X.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35074848