Machine Learning Algorithms Could Increase Energy Yield Of Nuclear Fusion Reactors

Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories recently designed machine learning algorithms intended to improve the energy output of nuclear fusion reactors. The research team utilized AI algorithms to simulate the interactions between plasma and materials within the walls of a nuclear fusion reactor. Unlike nuclear fission, which involves splitting atoms apart, the energy created by fusion reactions releases energy through the creation of plasma. Hydrogen atoms are superheated to create a plasma cloud and this cloud releases energy as the particles within it smash into one another and fuse together. This process is chaotic, and if scientists can better control the fusion process, it could lead to substantial increases in the amount of usable energy created by nuclear fusion reactors.