Nuclear scientists at the National Ignition Facility in California made a milestone achievement in the ongoing development of fusion energy. The facility, operated by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, managed to successfully heat and compress hydrogen fuel to initiate fusion.
Scientists used nearly 200 laser beams to sent energy to a tiny spot to initiate fusion. The energy generated was eight times more than that generated in the past. Scientists said the successful experiment now brings them much closer to the goal of creating more energy than that used in initiating fusion.
During the experiment, fusion lasted for about 100 trillionths of a second. However, it had generated about 1.35 megajoules of energy - or about 70% of the energy used to fire the lasers.
"This is a huge advance for fusion and for the entire fusion community," Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory physicist Debbi Callahan said.
Fusion is the same type of energy generation system that powers the stars, including our own sun. By technically creating our own miniature sun on earth, it may be possible to generate limitless amounts of clean energy. The only hindrance to the system is solving the problem of having a fusion system generate more energy than it consumes.
The experiment in California involved a process called inertial confinement fusion. Laser beams were directed towards a small capsule that contained hydrogen fuel - comprised of deuterium and tritium - to initiate fusion.
Science Alert: Physicists in California Achieve 'Historic' Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough https://t.co/QW58UFOiu9 — Area51 (@area51org) August 18, 2021
The achievement now brings scientists one step closer to the holy grail of clean energy generation. Experts believe that fusion will be the energy of the future due to the abundance of energy it can provide and because it produces zero waste and greenhouse gases.
The co-director of the center for research in this field at Imperial College London, Professor Steven Rose, said the experiment is the most significant advancement ever made in inertial fusion since 1972. Rose's colleague, Jeremy Chittenden, said there is still much to be done, and creating a sustainable fusion energy generation system will take time as there are still a lot of technical challenges that need to be overcome.
"Turning this concept into a renewable source of electrical power will probably be a long process and will involve overcoming significant technical challenges," Chittenden said.
