Nuclear fusion could become a reliable, safe and almost unlimited source of energy after a new fusion rector in which magnets levitate. The project, started in 1998, is called the Levitated Dipole Experiment, or LDX and achieved fully levitation operations last November.
In the first stage, the magnet was sustained by a support structure that caused important losses to the electrically charged gas in the middle of which the fusion takes place, called plasma. A test performed on March 21th gave proof that plasma confinement had significantly improved, thus an important step towards obtaining a fusion reaction had been made.
Fusion occurs when two different types of atoms fuse, resulting a third element, which is helium in most cases. For a sustained fusion to take place, specific genres of materials must be put under great temperature, pressure and density. Scientists often use a mix of deuterium and tritium for this process, but until now they have been unable to build a stable reactor that produces more energy than it consumes, and so, making it a source of power.
If this reactor will develop even more, and become practical, we will have a limitless source of energy, as its ‘fuel’ (deuterium) would be obtained from sea water. Above this, it would be also ecological, because no carbon would result from the reaction.
