W7-X stellarator may help to build a better world. Image: wikimedia commons.

The world just took another step towards the future. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute invited Chancellor Angela Merkel (who has a doctorate in physics) to press the start button on the stellarator W7-X that someday may produce nuclear fusion. A cleaner, renewable, more advanced form of energy than nuclear fission, this new form of atomic energy is also being pursued by ITER in France. While ITER uses the Russian design tokamak approach, Germany’s program uses an American design stellarator. Whichever method proves to be chosen for fusion energy, the future of this new power may draw environmental and social dimensions from the Atomic Energy Act.

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License