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Post by Admin on Dec 13, 2022 18:47:55 GMT
Watch again as scientists announce a breakthrough in nuclear fusion that could bring limitless clean energy and help the fight against climate change.
On Tuesday, scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California announced that they have achieved the “holy grail” of getting more energy out of a fusion reaction than it took to trigger it.
The team reportedly used 2.1 megajoules of energy to create the conditions for the reaction, and achieved a 2.5 megajoules return – an achievement known as fusion ignition.
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Post by Admin on Dec 13, 2022 20:49:39 GMT
CNN's Kate Bolduan speaks with US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm about the scientific breakthrough in nuclear fusion energy and what it could mean for a clean energy future. #CNN #News
Washington: US researchers announced a historic nuclear fusion breakthrough on Tuesday, hailing a "landmark achievement" in the quest for a source of unlimited, clean power and an end to reliance on fossil fuels.
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) said it had used the world's largest laser to create, for the first time, a fusion reaction that replicated the process that powers the sun and generated more energy than it took to produce -- a goal pursued by scientists for decades.
Nuclear fusion has been touted by its supporters as a clean, abundant and safe source of energy that could eventually allow humanity to break its dependence on coal, crude oil, natural gas and other hydrocarbons driving a global climate crisis.
The US Department of Energy described the achievement of fusion ignition as a "major scientific breakthrough" that will lead to "advancements in national defense and the future of clean power."
However, there is still a long way to go before fusion is viable on an industrial scale, providing power to homes and businesses.
"There are very significant hurdles, not just in the science but in technology," Kim Budil, the LLNL director, said at a press conference.
"A few decades of research on the underlying technologies could put us in a position to build a power plant," she said.
The LLNL, which is based in California, said a team at its National Ignition Facility had achieved what is known as "net energy gain" in an experiment this month, producing more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it.
"They shot a bunch of lasers at a pellet of fuel and more energy was released from that fusion ignition than the energy of the lasers," explained White House science advisor Arati Prabhakar.
- More developments needed -
For the experiment, researchers at LLNL used 192 ultra-powerful lasers to deliver 2.05 megajoules of energy to a tiny capsule smaller than a pea containing isotopes of hydrogen.
It produced 3.15 megajoules of fusion energy output.
While the result was a net energy gain, 300 megajoules of energy was needed from the electrical grid to power the lasers.
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Post by Admin on Dec 14, 2022 18:45:05 GMT
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