Engineers have been trying since long to develop an energy efficient fusion reactor. They came up with many different designs, however,such a reactor was never made. Now, a new material base for superconductors that has been found by researchers at MIT could assist reactors in generating energy.

Nuclear fusion reactors have the similar chemical process that naturally takes place in stars. Atoms become so hot and move so fast that they collide into each other and create larger atoms and energy is released as a byproduct.

The fusion reactor that is first of its kind produces more energy than the amount it consumes. The reactor may not make use of a barium superconductor in any way. As per reports, another project has been carried out in the south of France for several years and its design was made prior to availability of barium copper oxide.

According to the MIT team, its design is 50% the diameter of the ITER and it will not take much time to be developed, however will still generate the same amount of energy. Because of the slow history of developing practical nuclear fusion with the help of Tokamak technology, the critics don’t have many hopes for the MIT project.

According to Paul Schatzkin, the founder of an online fusion community, “If they’re still building Tokamaks, this superconducting technology is the proverbial lipstick on a pig. This just adds another layer of complex technology to an already hopelessly complex technology. The approach that will ultimately (if ever) make fusion energy practical will be simple, not complex”.