Catching the sun in East Tennessee... [View all]

and most importantly, holding onto it.

"UT researchers have successfully developed a key technology in developing an experimental reactor that can demonstrate the feasibility of fusion energy for the power grid. Nuclear fusion promises to supply more energy than the nuclear fission used today but with far fewer risks.

Since 2008, UT engineering professors and about 15 students have worked inside UT's Magnet Development Laboratory (MDL) located off of Pellissippi Parkway to develop technology that serves to insulate and provide structural integrity to the more than 1,000 ton central solenoid.

A tokamak reactor uses magnetic fields to confine the plasma-a hot, electrically charged gas that serves as the reactor fuel-into the shape of a torus. The central solenoid, which consists of six giant coils stacked on top of one another, plays the starring role by both igniting and steering the plasma current."

This week, the UT team tested the technology inside its mockup of the central solenoid conductor.
It took two years to develop the technology, more than two days to impregnate the central solenoid mockup and multiple pairs of watchful eyes to ensure everything went according to plan.

It did."

http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Tennessee_takes_big_step_towards_nuclear_fusion_power_999.html