Scientists Reach Important Milestone with Nuclear Fusion

­One of the most promising quasi-unlimited, futuristic energy sources just took an important step towards mainstream viability.

We’ve all heard the adages – to paraphrase Otto Octavius from Spider-Man 2, “the power of the sun in the palm of your hand.”

Nuclear fusion – when the nuclei of two atoms merge – could produce enough energy to power the sun, let alone satisfy all our energy needs on Earth.

The realization of a viable energy source like that would be such a monumental discovery – akin to curing cancer – that it’d usher in prodigious societal changes and solve a huge percentage of global problems.

A near-limitless source of energy would quench one of, if not the, biggest Earthly conundrums. Nuclear fusions produces no carbon emissions (like fossil fuels) or long-lasting radioactive waste (like nuclear fission), and its efficiency doesn’t ebb and flow with the weather (like wind and solar).

The problem is that, while miniature nuclear fusion is theoretically possible – and we’ve already achieved it, of a sort – it currently uses more energy than it produces. It’s like the power version of producing pennies.

But researchers just figured out a way to reduce heat loss in a stellarator nuclear fusion reactor (known as the Wendelstein 7-X) – which resembles a twisty donut -- by optimizing its magnetic coil.

By optimizing its heat loss, scientists were able to heat the reactor to 54 million degrees Fahrenheit (twice as hot as the sun’s core).

“It’s really exciting news for fusion that this design has been successful,” said physicist Novimir Pablant. “It clearly shows that this kind of optimization can be done.”

Course, this was in the lab, not a practical application, but it shows that the power of the sun might be achievable in our lifetimes.