Nuclear fusion: American scientists managed to produce more energy than they used in an experiment

American scientists announced today that they have achieved a “huge scientific achievement” in the field of nuclear fusion, a method that could one day bring about a revolution in energy production on Earth.

In an experiment conducted last week “fusion produced more energy than lasers consumed” that were used, explained the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California, which is under the US Department of Energy.

Nuclear fusion, if it makes the leap from science labs to commercial electricity generation in the coming decades, could help tackle climate change.

According to the Ministry of Energy, the experiment took place on December 5 and for the first time its scientists LLNL succeeded in producing a net gain of energy from the fusion of two light hydrogen atoms into a heavier one.

THE Arati Prabhakarthe director of the White House Office of Science and Technology, said the experiment was “a tremendous example of what we can achieve with persistence.”

Fusion is the reaction that powers the Sun, and scientists have been trying to achieve it on Earth for decades.

Nuclear scientists outside LLNL said the achievement is an important step, but much remains to be done before fusion becomes commercially viable. Tony Raulstone, a nuclear energy expert at the University of Cambridge, estimates that the energy output in the experiment was just 0.5% of the energy needed to start the lasers in the first place. “Therefore, we can say that this result (…) is a success for science. But it is still a long way from producing useful, abundant, clean energy,” he commented.

The power industry cautiously welcomed the progress, but stressed that to achieve the energy transition fusion should not slow down efforts to promote other alternatives such as solar and wind power and nuclear fission. “It’s the first step that tells us, ‘Yes, it’s not just a fantasy, it can be done, in theory,'” said Andrew Sounder, a technology specialist at EPRI, a nonprofit energy research and development organization.

RES-EMP

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