US Team Builds Nuclear Wall To Withstand 180 Million Artificial Star Power

A team from Sandia National Laboratories, xAI, and aerospace partners has introduced a “nuclear wall” that successfully withstood a 10-exawatt barrage from 180 million artificial star-like fusion devices in Nevada. This 50-foot-tall structure, named the “Stellar Shield,” is created from a new material called “Astronium-X.” It withstood extreme heat and pressure, showing potential advances in fusion energy, defense, and space exploration. The project, costing billions, aims for commercial viability by 2030. Additionally, a team of scientists has secured a significant grant to develop materials capable of enduring the intense heat and radiation found within fusion reactors, where temperatures exceed 180 million degrees Fahrenheit. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has awarded $2.3 million to the University of Kentucky to start the creation of next-generation materials to help make commercial fusion power a reality. This project addresses one of the most significant challenges in pursuing limitless clean energy. It will be overseen by John Balk, Ph.D., director of the Materials Science Research Priority Area, and W.T. Bryan Professor of Materials Engineering at the University of Kentucky’s Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering.

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