A company called TAE technologies claims that it could generate energy from nuclear fusion by the end of the 2020s, bringing us closer to a sci-fi future.?
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Nuclear fusion has been believed to be the one way the world could be given near-limitless clean energy and minimal carbon footprint. But the technology for practical application is still believed to be years away.?
However, TAE Technologies shares that it has developed a novel technology capable of generating stable plasma at temperatures over 50 million degrees celsius. The technology comes six years after TAE proved that its reactor design was capable of sustaining plasma indefinitely.?
The new milestone, however, showcases the kind of temperatures it can safely and successfully run on. These temperatures are necessary for adapting reactors for commercial use.
As per the press release, this success shows the company's compact linear configuration improves plasma confinement as temperatures rise.?
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TAE claims that it has now validated that the company's unique approach can scale to the numerous conditions to offer an economically viable commercial fusion power plant by the end of the decade.
The new technology is a proof of concept for a lifetime of work from Normal Rostoker, one of the co-founders of the company who has also spent his entire life developing practical nuclear fusion research. Rostoker passed away on Christmas day in 2014, at the age of 89 years.?
TAEĄŻs CEO, Michl Binderbauer said in the press release, "This is an incredibly rewarding milestone and an apt tribute to the vision of my late mentor, Norman Rostoker. Norman and I wrote a paper in the 1990s theorizing that a certain plasma dominated by highly energetic particles should become increasingly better confined and stable as temperatures increase. We have now been able to demonstrate this plasma behaviour with overwhelming evidence."
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Binderbauer further said, "It is a powerful validation of our work over the last three decades, and a very critical milestone for TAE that proves the laws of physics are on our side."?
The most recent announcement allowed the company to raise $280 million in additional funding. As of now, TAE has raised over $880 million from investors all around the world.