Alcator C-Mod Nuclear Fusion sets a new record before it shut down last month because of lack of funding.
The Nuclear Fusion has been in operation for 23 years in MIT. It provided advancement in the study of plasma pressure in a magnetic confinement.
Science Daily reported that Alcator managed to exceeded one of the highest pressure achieved by similar fusion device by 70 percent. Dale Mead from Princeton explained that this is remarkable achievement for the Alcator C-Mod program.
He explained that the recorded plasma pressure shows that high-magnetic field approach is an effective tool in practical fusion energy. Riccardo Beety from University of Rochestor explained that Alcator C-Mod was one of the best high-magnetic-field tokamaks to confirm high pressures for burning plasma.
Alcator C-Mod is the world's only compact magnetic field fusion reactor with a tokamak, toroidal chamber. This is where plasma is confined, MIT News explained.
They explained that C-mod has a magnetic field amounting to 8 tesla, which is 16,000 times the magnetic field of our planet. This device creates a dense and hot plasma that's 80 million degrees.
The researchers explained that the device has the ability to contain plasma pressures four times other nuclear fusion devices can. They explained that in 2005 the device set a record or 1.77 atmosphere.
Its latest record showed that it was able to exceed its previous record. They were able to create 2.05 atmosphere.
The temperature inside Alcator was able to reach 35 million degrees Celsius which is hotter than the center of the Sun. The plasma was able to produce 300 trillion fusion reactions per second.
Alactor has a central magnetic field of 5.7 testla. It has 1.4 million amps of electrical current and was heated using 4 million watts of power.
The Department of Energy pulled the plug for the device in 2012. The U.S. Congress funded the device for three years which ended on September 30, 2016.
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