AN EXPERIMENT designed to tap the energy released by a “controlled hydrogen bomb” has achieved fusion for the first time. The result is a milestone for the “Z-pinch” reactor at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which aims to compete with the vastly more expensive ITER project as the most promising route to economically viable fusion power.
Fusion sounds simple enough: generate a mix of the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium hot enough for their nuclei to fuse, and they will yield colossal amounts of clean energy. But this is fraught with practical difficulties. Achieving the incredible temperatures and pressures necessary is a major challenge…
