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watch One-Minute World News Last Updated:  Tuesday, 8 April,
2003, 15:11 GMT 16:11 UK Alternative fusion machine limbers up
By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor
Scientists have taken another stride forward in the quest to
develop fusion power - the energy source that powers the Sun and
other stars.  The Z machine, Sandia National Laboratory The Z
machine pulses with energy Fusion promises relatively cheap
energy - the fuel is seawater - with far fewer pollution
problems compared with conventional nuclear power.  But the path
to this technology has been long and expensive, with no
commercial generation in sight.  Now, US scientists have created
a hot, dense plasma that produces thermonuclear neutrons - a
step, they say, towards harnessing nuclear fusion energy they
say.  The Z machine  To generate fusion power, atoms, usually
light atoms like deuterium and tritium - isotopes of hydrogen -
have to be forced to combine. This releases