As we anticipated yesterday, the sensational announcement about the future of nuclear fusion has arrived. The United States Department of Energy announced today (December 13) theimportant scientific breakthrough in the research on controlled fusion.
Researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have succeeded for the first time in produce more energyin a fusion reaction, than how much had been introduced to get it going. As explained by the head of the Department of Energy Jennifer Granholm, the experiment performed on December 5 obtained a net energy gain (Net Energy Gain).
Net energy gain has always been a difficult target to achieve due to the extreme temperatures at which fusion occurs, making the reaction incredibly difficult to control.
After decades of trying, the impressive result was achieved at the National Ignition Facility (department of the LLNL). The researchers used 192 lasers and vastly hotter than the center of the Sun to initiate an extremely short fusion reaction. The lasers were focused on a small metal cylinder, thus creating an environment of superheated plasma where nuclear fusion occurred.
According to Granholm and other officials, the incredible achievement achieved in trying to control the physical processes that power the Sun and the stars will pave the way for important advances in the field of clean energy.
Despite this, the generating electricity to power homes and cities may still be a long way off. According to Professor Riccardo Betti, from the University of Rochester, the breakthrough announced today is comparable to when we first learned that the ignition of diesel produces an explosion.
“We still don’t have an engine and we lack wheels,” Betti said. ”We still can’t say we have a car.”
The achievement of net energy gain it only applies to the fusion reaction and not to the total amount of energy required to power the lasers and the entire project. To make fusion accessible, scientists will need to increase energy gain and keep it much longer; quite a challenge.
Making nuclear fusion the energy of the future is certainly possible, but it will be necessary to invest in research and continue to support it.
