Small NZ Company Joins the Race to Perfect Nuclear Fusion

OpenStar, started just 3 years ago in a Wellington flat, has joined the worldwide race to develop viable nuclear fusion technology.
Small NZ Company Joins the Race to Perfect Nuclear Fusion
View of the toroidal chamber-magnetic (Tokamak) of the Joint European Torus (JET) at the Culham Science Centre. The JET is the largest fusion device in the world and European physicians managed to sustain 16 megawatts of energy for one second in 1997. AFP/Getty Images
Rex Widerstrom
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Just three years ago, Ratu Mataira founded a company called OpenStar in his Mt Victoria flat in Wellington. In February this year, it signed a formal collaboration agreement with MIT as another step in its quest to build a viable nuclear fusion reactor.

Unlike fission, nuclear fusion seeks to replicate the reaction that makes the sun and other stars shine by fusing two atoms to unleash huge amounts of energy. Because of its potential to provide limitless energy without planet-warming carbon pollution, it’s seen as the holy grail of energy solutions.

Rex Widerstrom
Rex Widerstrom
Author
Rex Widerstrom is a New Zealand-based reporter with over 40 years of experience in media, including radio and print. He is currently a presenter for Hutt Radio.
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