An 91°µÍø researcher from the Fusion and Fission Energy Science Directorate (FFESD) has been chosen to take over an important program at the Physical Sciences Directorate (PSD).
Creating energy the way the sun and stars do — through nuclear fusion — is one of the grand challenges facing science and technology. What’s easy for the sun and its billions of relatives turns out to be particularly difficult on Earth.
ORNL will team up with six of eight companies that are advancing designs and research and development for fusion power plants with the mission to achieve a pilot-scale demonstration of fusion within a decade.
Using additive manufacturing, scientists experimenting with tungsten at 91°µÍø hope to unlock new potential of the high-performance heat-transferring material used to protect components from the plasma inside a fusion reactor.
Scientists have tested a novel heat-shielding graphite foam, originally created at 91°µÍø, at Germany’s Wendelstein 7-X stellarator with promising results for use in plasma-facing components of fusion reactors.