Kalistani Major History

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Physicists setback by failure of containment plasma
Fusion reaction lasts a mere 18 nanoseconds, before collapsing
Bozo River Experimental Reactor, Ananto
August 14, 5087


Dr. Janice Schmidt, Director of the SFZPEFR Project at Bozo River

The Sheared Flow Z-Pinch Experimental Fusion Reactor which was completed in July was fired up for the first time last week, and while conditions within the Pinch approached the pressure theoretically needed to shear off electrons and allow for fusion of deuterium and tritium isotopes, the reactor’s containment field very quickly destabilized, leading operators to quickly shut down the reactor to preserve the limited tritium fuel.

“We observed a infinitesimally small fusion reaction within the pinch,” said project lead Dr.Janice Schmidt. “As exciting as this is, it only lasted 18 nanoseconds, and produced the tiniest spark of energy, not nearly enough to provide either a self sustaining fusion reaction that we seek, nor enough to begin the tritium replacement cycle that we need to allow the reactor to continue. So we ordered the reactor shut down to preserve our limited and valuable supply of tritium. We will attempt to adjust the plasma shear flow, to stabilize it, and try it again.”

Schmidt said that her team believed that the issue was the instability of the containment plasma. “What’s needed here it to keep the plasma in a constant stream to increase the pressure within the fusion chambers. This is a feature of the z-pinch, which compresses the fuel to increases the pressure and temperature. But when this plasma itself has ripples in it, that creates distortions in the fuel compression and causes containment failure.”

The setback is not theoretically insurmountable. Schmidt said that the answer is in supercooling the containment chamber. “We do believe that supercooling the electrical system within the plasma. Doing so, up to a degree or so above absolute zero will allow the electrical current to travel through the plasma with next to no resistance, creating the necessary magnetic field that will compress the plasma within the containment unit and finally achieve the desired fusion reaction.”

Schmidt noted that a new infusion of cash into the project from KALNAPECO will allow the project to research methods for creating the supercool conditions for such conductivity. “We may be set back a year or so, depending on sufficient funding. But, I think ultimately this will just be another hurdle to over come, and I think we can do it.”