In the United States, scientists were able to generate more energy than the amount of energy used to cause the reaction. This is according to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).
Nuclear fusion has been the holy grail of energy production for decades. Despite all the great environmental and safety expectations, it seems impossible to quickly make nuclear fusion viable on an industrial scale.
The amount of energy will be greater than the previous test conducted in December that was considered “historic,” according to Paul Ryan, spokesman for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). “On July 30, the new test produced a greater yield than the December 2022 experiment,” Ryan said. US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm announced that this breakthrough “will go down in the history books.”
By December 2022, scientists had produced 3.15 megajoules of energy, using 2.05 megajoules via laser. However, it required 300 megajoules from the power grid to activate the laser, meaning the process was still incurring losses.
The exact results of the experiment, which uses powerful lasers, will have to wait some time. For decades, researchers from around the world have been trying to develop nuclear fusion, or simply reverse nuclear fission, the technology currently used in nuclear power plants.
Nuclear fission consists of splitting the nucleus of a heavy atom, releasing energy. In nuclear fusion, two light nuclei fuse, which is a completely normal reaction to the Sun, for example.
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