FUSION POWER:
Spherical Tokamaks Are on a Roll
Andrew Watson
Results from two fusion experiments, one in the United States and one in the United Kingdom, suggest that making a reactor spherical with a hole through the middle--like a cored apple--may be more efficient than the traditional doughnut shape. The two machines both managed to confine a hot plasma of hydrogen ions in the dense, calm state used by traditional machines--an important first step toward fusion.