The U.S. Department of Energy will announce on Tuesday that scientists at the national laboratory have made a breakthrough in fusion. This process, which occurs in the sun and stars, could somehow become a cheap source of electricity. This was reported by sources briefed on the matter by Reuters.
According to one of the sources, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California achieved a net energy boost for the first time in a fusion experiment using a laser.
While the results were a major milestone in scientific research that has been going on since at least the 1930s, one of the sources made an important point. To create a process that generates electricity for commercial purposes, the ratio of energy input to reaction to energy produced must be about 100 times greater.
Fusion occurs when the nuclei of two atoms undergo superheating of 100 million degrees Celsius (180 million degrees Fahrenheit) or higher, causing them to merge into a new, larger atom, releasing an enormous amount of energy.
Source: Port Altele
