---
title: "Scientists Find a New Way to Kickstart Stable Fusion Reactions"
description: "A new technique for nuclear fusion can generate plasma without requiring as much space-consuming equipment within a reactor."
date: "2019-04-11"
modified: "2019-04-11"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-new-way-kickstart-stable-fusion-reactions"
categories:
  - "Energy"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "energy"
  - "nuclear fusion"
  - "the digest"
---

# Scientists Find a New Way to Kickstart Stable Fusion Reactions

![A new technique for nuclear fusion can generate plasma without requiring as much space-consuming equipment within a reactor.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/scientists-new-way-kickstart-stable-fusion-reactions.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Enrique Meseguer via Pixabay/Tag Hartman-Simkins\</em\>*

## Warm Fusion

Scientists from the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory say that they've found a new way to start up [nuclear fusion reactions](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/fusion-reactions-stabilize>).

The new technique, [described in research](<https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.5087259>) published last month in the journal *Physics of Plasmas*, provides an alternate means for reactors to convert gas into the superhot plasma that gets fusion reactions going with less equipment taking up valuable lab space — another step in the long road to practical fusion power.

## Out With The Old

Right in the center of a tokamak, a common type of experimental nuclear fusion reactor, there's a large central magnet that helps generate plasma. The new technique, called "transient coaxial helical injection," does away with the magnet but still generates a stable reaction, freeing up the space taken up by the magnet for other equipment.

"The good news from this study," Max Planck Institute researcher Kenneth Hammond said in a press release, "is that the projections for startup in large-scale devices look promising."

**READ MORE:** [Ready, set, go: Scientists evaluate novel technique for firing up fusion-reaction fuel](<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190410120018.htm>) \[Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory newsroom via *ScienceDaily*\]

**More on nuclear fusion:** *[Scientists Found a New Way to Make Fusion Reactors More Efficient](<https://futurism.com/fusion-reactors-efficient>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)