AN OUTSIDER in the race towards efficient fusion power is fast gaining on more established rivals. Researchers have passed a key milestone in the development of a relatively new approach called the Z-pinch, although achieving fusion is still a long way off.
Nuclear fusion promises unlimited clean power: make a mix of hydrogen isotopes hot enough for their nuclei to fuse, and they’ll yield colossal amounts of energy. But getting this to work on a practical scale remains fraught with problems.
Physicists have had some success using powerful magnetic fields to trap a hot deuterium-tritium plasma long enough for fusion…
