2023-08-12 09:00:00
Scientists have replicated last year’s advance in nuclear fusion. There is still a long way to go towards nuclear fusion as an energy source.
Scientists from a federally funded research center in the United States have managed to carry out a second reaction experiment of nuclear fusion which resulted in a net energy gain. THE Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) explains that scientists from the National Ignition Facility (TIN) have generated a larger energy field than the one they got in December, as reported Archyde.com.
Scientists replicated last year’s nuclear fusion advance
The approach to nuclear fusion is very similar, in its process, to what makes it possible to create stars capable of emitting light and heat. Scientists used a laser targeted at a fuel to combine two light atoms into a single, denser one. This operation releases a large amount of energy. This process could be of great interest as a sustainable, low-carbon energy source to help combat climate change.
In their experiment last December, the laser delivered a power of 2.05 megajoules to the target. Scientists had achieved fusion ignition by generating an output energy of 3.15 megajoules. That’s a net profit of around 1.1 megajoules, the equivalent of 0.31 kWh – enough to power a 50 W LED TV for six hours.
There is still a long way to go towards nuclear fusion as an energy source
For the time being, we do not yet know precisely the energy gain obtained by this last experiment carried out on July 30th. A spokesperson for the LLNL told Archyde.com that the researchers were still busy analyzing the final results.
As promising as it may be, there is still a long way to go before fusion can become a viable and mainstream energy solution and we can take advantage of its production to power our homes. There are still many obstacles to overcome: in particular, experts must figure out how to scale their system. Anyway, the simple fact of being able to repeat this experiment and obtain better results is a good thing, it is a further step towards cleaner energies.
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