In this week’s edition of The Prototype, we look at new advances in fusion power, how the new budget bill undermines clean energy, a new trick to treat autoimmune diseases and more. You can sign up to get The Prototype in your inbox here.

View of the research reactor Wendelstein 7-X

Two different fusion experiments in Europe have recently set records–and may be bringing the world closer to real fusion power. One is the Wendelstein 7-X, which is at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. The other is the Joint European Torus (JET), which was retired at the end of 2023 but whose final experimental data haven’t been published yet.

The two projects used different approaches to contain superheated plasma–isotopes of hydrogen that are hotter than the Sun’s surface–for a relatively long period of time. The Wendelstein 7-X contained it for about 43 seconds, many times more than it had been able to do before. And the JET achieved containment for nearly a full minute.

These are crucial steps to achieve a sustained and continuous fusion reaction, which is necessary to use it as a power source. The challenge is being able to control something at such high temperatures without destroying the reactor unit. Wendelstein 7-X uses a design concept called a stellarator, which holds the plasma using magnetic fields generated by superconductors. The researchers at the fusion power project now have a new goal of containing the plasma for half an hour.

P.S. There will be no edition of the Prototype next week. I’ll see you all on July 18!

Charlie Riedel/AP File

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