Near-oxymoronic requirements: the materials challenges of fusion energy
5/7/202633 min
Nuclear fusion powers the Sun, and scientists and engineers have long been trying to harness the process to generate clean energy. While much progress has been made, the commercially-viable generation of fusion energy remains elusive.
One important challenge is developing a range of specialized materials that can contain an extremely hot, radiation-emitting plasma in close proximity to ultracold superconducting magnets.
Our guest this week is Jacob John of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, who studies how radiation damages materials. In conversation with Physics World’s Matin Durrani, he talks about the near-oxymoronic materials requirements for fusion reactors and how they can be met.
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First 90 secondsHamish Johnston· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Hello, and welcome to the Physics World Weekly Podcast. I'm Hamish Johnston. Nuclear fusion powers the sun, and scientists and engineers have long been trying to harness the process to generate clean energy. While much progress has been made, the commercially viable generation of fusion energy remains elusive. One important challenge is developing a range of specialized materials that can contain an extremely hot radiation-emitting plasma in close proximity to ultra cold superconducting magnets. Our guest this week is Jacob John of the UK's Atomic Energy Authority. He studies how radiation damages materials, and in conversation with Physics World's Mateen Durrani, he talks about the near oxymoronic materials requirements for fusion reactors and how they can be met.
Mateen Durrani· Host1:04
Hello, Jacob. Welcome to the Physics World Podcast.
Jacob John· Guest1:16
Pleasure to meet you, uh, Mateen. I am really happy to be speaking with you.
Mateen Durrani· Host1:20
All right. So let's start with the basics. Do you want to... For listeners, do you want to tell us a bit about yourself and where you are? You're in France at the moment, aren't you?
Jacob John· Guest1:27
Yes, sir. So I work for the