TEHRAN - A U.S. company and an Iranian university have agreed to collaborate on nuclear fusion, the elusive technology that promises a limitless supply of clean energy, the Guardian reported on Friday.
New Jersey-based Lawrenceville Plasma Physics Inc and Tehran’s Islamic
Azad University will jointly design a fusion machine that “would be
affordable to construct in industrializing nations”, according to a
contract signed last weekend and seen by the Guardian.
There is doubt whether U.S. trade sanctions will permit the
collaboration, but LPP noted in a written statement that the pact
qualifies as an official U.S. Department of Treasury exemption “which
authorizes collaborating with academics and research institutions on
the… creation and enhancement of written publications.”
LPP was scheduled to notify the president’s council of advisors on
science and technology of its Iranian partnership at 2:00 p.m. ET on
Friday in Washington DC.
Many people regard nuclear fusion as the Holy Grail of energy sources.
Unlike today’s nuclear fission, it does not generate power by splitting
atoms and leaving behind dangerous waste. Rather, in theory, it fuses
them together – the way the sun works – typically combining isotopes of
hydrogen known as deuterium and tritium.
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