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MIT·Alex Tinguely & Maria Gatu Johnson
56:29
0:00/56:29
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An examination of the two primary approaches to achieving practical fusion energy: magnetic confinement, exemplified by tokamaks like SPARC, and inertial confinement, as pursued at facilities such as NIF.
PSFC researchers Dr. Alex Tinguely and Dr. Maria Gatu Johnson discuss the two leading approaches— magnetic confinement fusion and intertial confinement fusion— competing to produce more energy than they consume and make practical fusion power a reality. Dr. Gatu Johnson and Dr. Tinguely's presentation explores the fundamental principles of both methods, highlights recent advancements in high-field tokamaks (e.g. SPARC) and laser-driven fusion (e.g. NIF), and touches on some of the challenges and opportunities in the field, including ongoing developments. With net energy gain already demonstrated, the race to practical fusion power is intensifying—who will win? Ultimately, we all do!
Researchers
Alex Tinguely is a researcher at MIT, contributing to the understanding of fusion energy, particularly the comparison of magnetic and laser confinement.
Researchers
Maria Gatu Johnson is a researcher at MIT, exploring the race to fusion energy with a focus on magnetic and laser approaches.
