Scientists and engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Plasma Science and Fusion Center in the US have made a new world record for plasma pressure in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak nuclear fusion reactor.

The Alcator C-Mod is claimed to be the world’s only compact, high-magnetic-field fusion reactor featuring advanced shaping in a design known as tokamak, which limits the superheated plasma in a donut-shaped chamber.

The Alcator C-Mod facility was closed officially following completion of 23 years of operation life.

The nuclear fusion has the potential to produce nearly unlimited clean, safe, carbon-free energy.

On final day of operation, the Alcator C-Mod tokamak nuclear fusion reactor achieved 2.05 atmospheres of pressure for the first time surpassing previous record of 1.77 atmospheres, which was achieved in 2005 at the same facility.

During the experiment, the temperature inside the reactor reached over 35 million degrees Celsius, which is approximately twice as hot as the center of the sun.

The experiment was carried out in collaboration with the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and General Atomics.

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory former deputy director Dale Meade said: “The record plasma pressure validates the high-magnetic-field approach as an attractive path to practical fusion energy.”

The researchers said that the plasma, which lasted for two full seconds, produced 300 trillion fusion reactions per second and had a central magnetic field strength of 5.7 tesla.

Additionally, the nuclear fusion carried 1.4 million amps of electrical current and was heated with over 4 million watts of power.

University of Rochester Robert L. McCrory Professor of mechanical engineering and physics and astronomy Riccardo Betti said: “This result confirms that the high pressures required for a burning plasma can be best achieved with high-magnetic-field tokamaks such as Alcator C-Mod.”

Construction is currently underway on a new tokamak, ITER, in France which will be approximately 800 times larger in volume than Alcator C-Mod.

Upon fully commissioning by 2032, ITER is expected to reach 2.6 atmospheres, according to a Department of Energy report.

Image: The interior of the fusion experiment Alcator C-Mod.  Photo: courtesy of Bob Mumgaard/Plasma Science and Fusion Center.