9781422282908

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Science and Energy

The University of Washington’s “dynomak” project is trying to create a much smaller and safer reactor as a new way of generating electricity.

Creating an affordable fusion reactor , however, has proven difficult.A typical coal-fired electric power plant ismuch cheaper to build than a fusion reactor that can generate the same amount of electricity. But in 2014, scientists at the University ofWashing- ton announced that they had a design for a fusion reactor that was more affordable. Leading the team was physicist Thomas Jarboe, an expert in plasma, the fourth state of matter (along with solids, liquids, and gases). Plasma is created when energy is added to a substance, releasing electrically charged particles called electrons from atoms.

Working from the design of an existing fusion reactor, Jarboe and other scientists created what they call a dynomak. Fusion