Physical Attraction

Is nuclear fusion really the perfect energy source that it's sold as and cracked up to be?  Even if we can get it working, will it live up to the considerable hype? www.physicspodcast.com @physicspo...

17 Touko 201924min

What's stopping us from getting magnetic confinement fusion reactors that work? Is it really just... simple engineering problems? www.physicspodcast.com

9 Touko 201922min

The second generation of laser fusion (inertial confinement fusion) devices was built in the USA in the 1970s and 1980s - but, unfortunately, those pesky plasma instabilities wouldn't go away. www.ph...

2 Touko 201924min

The invention of the laser in 1960 opened up an entirely new approach to nuclear fusion - dramatically, and drastically compressing individual pellets of fuel with lasers.  www.physicspodcast.com @ph...

24 Huhti 201922min

In the late 1960s, scientists crossed the Iron Curtain. Their mission was to investigate whether the claims of Russian scientists about their new nuclear fusion device, the tokamak, were really true. ...

12 Huhti 201929min

Taking a break from our nuclear fusion odyssey this week, I have a very special episode for you today. This week, our guest is Dr Kate Devlin. She's a senior lecturer in computer science who studies a...

5 Huhti 201959min

After the first generation of nuclear fusion reactors had profound instabilities, and couldn't confine the plasma for long enough to achieve their aims, the world began to realise that fusion might no...

22 Maalis 201931min

In 1958, to great fanfare, the ZETA experiment at Harwell announced that they had achieved thermonuclear reactions, controlled in the lab. It was considered a huge breakthrough along the road towards ...

15 Maalis 201927min