In a significant leap towards achieving clean, sustainable, and nearly limitless energy, the WEST fusion reactor in southern France has set a new world record by sustaining a super-hot plasma for 6 minutes at 90 million degrees Fahrenheit. This experiment marks a crucial step in the development of fusion energy, a process that mimics the sun’s energy production through nuclear fusion, offering a potential energy source that could outperform fossil fuels by millions of times while being carbon-free. The success of WEST, a tokamak reactor, is pivotal for the progress of ITER, the world’s largest tokamak currently under construction in France, aiming to achieve self-sustaining burning plasmas. A key to WEST’s achievement was the use of tungsten for the reactor’s walls due to its heat-resistant properties and its ability to withstand the extreme conditions without absorbing tritium, a vital fuel for the fusion process. This breakthrough, although not yet commercially viable as fusion reactors consume more energy than they produce, represents a significant step forward in the quest for fusion energy, with ongoing research focused on overcoming the remaining challenges.
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