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Germany Fires Up Bizarre New Fusion Reactor (sciencemag.org)

New submitter insitus writes: On 10 December, Germany's new Wendelstein 7-X stellarator was fired up for the first time, rounding off a construction effort that took nearly 2 decades and cost €1 billion. Initially and for the first couple of months, the reactor will be filled with helium—an unreactive gas—so that operators can make sure that they can control and heat the gas effectively. At the end of January, experiments will begin with hydrogen in an effort to show that fusing hydrogen isotopes can be a viable source of clean and virtually limitless energy.

2 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. Re: can someone please explain for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Who cares. If they start using this they might be able to cut back on all those coal burning plants. Good for their smog levels good for everyone's environment.

  2. Re:Two things I don't quite get by bigfinger76 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    A magnetic field.