Florida A&M University’s Center for Plasma Science and Technology in Tallahassee, Florida isn’t focused on collecting solar power, but making it. In July 2012 the Center’s fusion reactor reached the first phase toward duplicating what happens on the surface of the Sun.
FAMU’s fusion reactor is locked behind three doors in a large dust-free, clutter-free garage. About the size of an office cubicle, the squat aluminum cylinder topped with a copper tower is far from intimidating. Its potential, on the other hand, is downright scary. The little guy named Spheromak is on a role having reached the first phase – called first plasma – toward generating an extreme amount of energy last summer. But what does that mean and why is that exciting?
“That means basically that the vacuum is working to a certain extent. That means that the capacitor banks are firing. That’s that the electron gun is properly firing and getting the Plasma in the chamber. So I’d say we’re probably half way to getting the Spheromak Plasma now. But we know the machine is capable of doing that,” says the Center’s Director, Dr. Charles Weatherford.
In other words, all systems are a go. Partially. There are still some hurdles to cross and Dr. Weatherford projects a year before they reach the second phase when the plasma takes the right shape of a Spheromak sphere – that’s what the machine is named after.
“A phenomenon occurs in these machines called magnetic reconnection. That’s where you get, basically, spontaneous lightning bolts inside the machine. And what is does is it sorta depleting the spheromatic shape of the Plasma,” says Weatherford.
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