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Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Taking shape: Fusion energy ecosystems built with public-private partnerships
It’s possible to describe fusion in simple terms: heat and squeeze small atoms to get abundant clean energy. But there’s nothing simple about getting fusion ready for the grid.
Private developers, national lab and university researchers, suppliers, and end users working toward that goal are developing a range of complex technologies to reach fusion temperatures and pressures, confounded by science and technology gaps linked to plasma behavior; materials, diagnostics, and electronics for extreme environments; fuel cycle sustainability; and economics.
R. Fitzpatrick
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 59 | Number 3 | April 2011 | Page 625
Appendix A | Fourth ITER International Summer School (IISS2010) / Extended Abstracts | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A11706
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tearing modes are magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities that often limit fusion plasma performance in tokamaks. As the name suggests, tearing modes tear and reconnect magnetic field lines, in the process converting nested toroidal flux surfaces into helical magnetic islands. Such islands degrade plasma confinement because heat and particles are able to travel radially from one side of an island to another by flowing along magnetic field lines, which is a relatively fast process, instead of having to diffuse across magnetic flux surfaces, which is a relatively slow process. [first paragraph from extended abstract]