There's a big new kid on the nuclear energy block. Last week British firm AWE (formerly the Atomic Weapons Establishment), based in Aldermaston, the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Harwell, UK, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California said they would team up to develop laser fusion as a clean energy source.
Laser fusion is an alternative to magnetically induced nuclear fusion, which is used in the Joint European Torus (JET) now operating in Culham, UK, and the test reactor ITER, under construction in Cadarache, France.
Historically, laser fusion has been used focused mostly for weapons testing, while power generation research has concentrated on magnetic fusion. Is that about to change? New Scientist has the answers.
And if that team can't do it, then it's highly unlikely anyone else will. We wish them well. To read the rest of the article, click here.