Using fusion energy, U.S. government scientists have made a breakthrough in a California laboratory.
According to three sources familiar with the experiment, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recently achieved a net energy gain in a fusion reaction.
Since the 1950s, scientists have been trying to harness the fusion reaction that powers the sun, but no group has been able to produce more energy than the reaction consumes.
As the world seeks to wean itself off fossil fuels, the breakthrough will have significant implications, even though fusion power stations will not be developed at scale for many decades. A small cup of hydrogen fuel could power a house for hundreds of years, according to The Times. Fusion reactions don’t emit carbon or radioactive waste.
This could be a turning point in history, said Dr Arthur Turrell, a plasma physicist. For decades, scientists have struggled to prove fusion can release more energy than is put in, but researchers at Lawrence Livermore appear to have finally succeeded in achieving this goal.”
During a Tuesday presentation at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Under-Secretary for Nuclear Security Jill Hruby will announce a “major scientific breakthrough.”