Interesting when you compare to the recent dynomak paper announcement[1]. The pointer to 'superconducting magnets' doesn't get a lot of ink though. I went by Fry's the other day and they were out of them :-) I wondered about them because to date such things usually are sitting in a cryogenic bath (think MRI machine) and not next to a million degree hot plasma. Even in the LHC there is a lot of space between the beam and the ring magnets. Dr McGuire in the article suggests -- “We should be able to go to 100% or beyond,” which is quite the challenge from the thermal management perspective.

It is however another great example that there is money going into lots of different fusion ideas. And that can only be a good thing as far as I am concerned.

[1] http://www.washington.edu/news/2014/10/08/uw-fusion-reactor-...