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Press Releases

Unveiling the Steady Progress toward Fusion Energy Gain
Today multiple fusion concepts are on the threshold of scientific breakeven, and other lower-cost concepts advanced by private companies have reached significant thresholds of performance.

Integrating Hot Cores and Cool Edges in Fusion Reactors
“Super-H Mode” and dust injection show promise for solving physics challenges of fusion power plants.

Harnessing Hot Helium Ash to Drive Rotation in Fusion Reactors
New model explains how and when waves can exploit the energy of hot fusion ash to power plasma rotation.

Upgraded Code Reveals a Source of Damaging Fusion Disruptions
Discoveries reveal an escape route for high-energy electrons that can lead to thermal quenches.

Meter-scale Plasma Waveguides Push the Particle Accelerator Envelope
Experiments drive electrons to multi-GeV energies in an all-optical laser-driven accelerator.

Tiny Grains, Severe Damage: Hypervelocity Dust Impacts on a Spacecraft Produce Plasma Explosions and Debris Clouds
New results reveal how plasma explosions and clouds of debris can disturb spacecraft operations in the aftermath of hypervelocity dust impacts.

Calling All “Fusioneers”! New U.S. Fusion Energy Website Launches
The new community-wide outreach, education, and workforce development website provides centralized resources for all audiences.

Passive-Aggressive: New Coil Stands Ready to Tame Runaway Electrons
The SPARC team is working on a passive, non-axisymmetric coil which should eliminate the threat of damage from relativistic electrons formed during tokamak disruptions.

Feeling the Heat: Fusion Reactors used to Test Spacecraft Heat Shields
Extreme conditions in the DIII-D plasmas mimic high-speed atmospheric entries.

Visualizing the Microscopic World of Fast Ions in Fusion Devices
For the first time, scientists can track the migration paths of fast ions in fusion plasmas.

Neutral Particles a Drag on Disruptive Plasma Blobs
New simulations couple gyrokinetic and kinetic models to better predict plasma turbulence.

Micro-Scale Current Sheets Unleash Macro-Scale Space Weather
NRL scientists discover new physics missing from existing models of magnetic reconnection.

Researchers at the Brink of Fusion Ignition at National Ignition Facility
Experiments conducted in August achieved a record yield of more than 1.3 megajoules.