America makes new progress in nuclear energy

Laser power booster in testing

The Guardian newspaper reported on August 7 that scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (California, USA) have just obtained large amounts of energy from nuclear fusion reactions, also known as fusion reactions.

While nuclear reactors around the world use uranium fission reactions, scientists around the world have long pursued the ambition of conducting fusion reactions, which are more difficult to perform.

Fusion promises to provide clean, safe, and virtually unlimited energy.

Scientists conducted a second fusion experiment on July 30 and achieved even more energy than the first experiment in December 2022, according to a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory spokesman. The final results will be analyzed in detail.

In the experiment, scientists fired multiple high-energy laser beams at a small target, heating hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium to temperatures of more than 3 million degrees Celsius and simulating the conditions of a star.

The process releases huge amounts of energy, promising to provide a sustainable, low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels or fission reactions.

The lab recorded a large energy gain from the December test, generating 3.15 megajoules of energy after a 2.05-megajoule laser beam hit the target, according to the Department of Energy.

In other words, the fusion experiment produced more energy than it supplied. The US Department of Energy called it “the biggest scientific breakthrough in decades, paving the way for defense advances and a clean energy future.”

One kilogram of fusion fuel, consisting of hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium, provides as much energy as 10 million kilograms of fossil fuels. However, it took scientists 70 years of research to achieve this achievement.

However, scientists say the technology still needs a long time before it can be applied to nuclear power plants, so it is unlikely to solve the immediate climate crisis.

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