Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was to announce on Tuesday a “major scientific breakthrough” in the decades-long quest to harness fusion, the energy that powers the sun and stars.
For the first time, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have produced more energy than was used to ignite it in a fusion reaction, according to a government official and a scientist familiar with the study. Both spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the breakthrough prior to the announcement. Granholm was going to a morning event in Washington with the Livermore researchers. The Department of Energy declined to disclose details in advance. The Financial Times was the first to report on this.
Fusion proponents hope that one day it can produce virtually unlimited carbon-free energy, replacing fossil fuels and other traditional energy sources. There are still decades of energy generation that powers homes and businesses through fusion. But the researchers said it’s still an important step forward.
“It’s almost like a starting ball,” said Professor Dennis White, director of MIT’s Center for Plasma Science and Fusion and a leader in fusion research. “We must strive to make fusion energy systems affordable to combat climate change and energy security.”
A net increase in energy has been an unattainable goal because fusion takes place at high temperatures and pressures that are incredibly difficult to control. Fusion works by compressing hydrogen atoms with such force that they transform into helium, releasing enormous amounts of energy and heat. Unlike other nuclear reactions, it does not produce radioactive waste.
Billions of dollars and decades of work have been spent on fusion research, which produces exciting results in less than a second. Previously, researchers at the National Ignition Facility, part of Lawrence Livermore, where the breakthrough occurred, used 192 lasers and temperatures several times higher than the center of the Sun to create an extremely short fusion reaction.
Source: Port Altele
