Scientists at MIT have set a new world record for plasma pressure at 2.05 atmosphere, showing a 15 percent improvement over the previous record of 1.77 atmosphere. Plasma pressure is an important factor in producing energy from nuclear fusion, which is widely considered to be a cleaner and more sustainable source of energy.

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The higher pressure denotes amplified reaction rates, which implies that the scientists are now a step closer to developing reactors which are commercially and technologically viable. To achieve 2.05 atmosphere, the scientists had to turn the reactor up to 35 million degrees Celsius. This temperature is twice the temperature of the sun's core.

The three main variables involved in the experiment are temperature, duration, and pressure. These variables are generally trade-offs. The MIT experiment topped the list in terms of pressure. However, there have been other experiments around the world, which had better performance in terms of temperature and duration.

The MIT team, however, claims that pressure is the key element and accounts for "two-thirds of the challenge." The experiment was conducted using the Alcator C-Mod tokamak nuclear fusion reactor. The results of the experiment were presented at the International Atomic Energy Agency Fusion Energy Conference, in Kyoto, Japan, on Monday, Oct. 17.

The Alcator C-Mod has been operational at MIT for the past 23 years. It accounted for both records set in terms of pressure. The previous record of 1.77 atmosphere was set in 2005. The latest result produced by Alcator exceeded the next highest pressure achieved in non-Alcator reactors by approximately 70 percent.