KRONOS·FUSION
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Glossary

Inertial Confinement

Compressing fuel so fast it fuses before it can fly apart; the alternative to magnetic confinement.

Inertial confinement fusion compresses a fuel pellet with lasers or ion beams until it briefly fuses under its own inertia. It is the approach used at the National Ignition Facility. Kronos uses magnetic confinement, a continuous rather than pulsed approach.