The following is excerpted from the Deseret News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory successfully replicated a breakthrough nuclear fusion experiment that could lead to a clean, safe and nearly limitless future energy source.
Scientists at Livermore’s National Ignition Facility were able to repeat a fusion ignition reaction on July 30 that resulted in a net energy gain larger than the results from the December experiment when a successful outcome, creating more energy than is needed to fuel the fusion reaction, was first achieved.
The landmark experiment represents an unprecedented accomplishment for fusion energy research but scientists note that the process remains a long way from the scale required to provide a meaningful level of power generation.
Fusion works when nuclei of two atoms are subjected to extreme heat of 100 million degrees Celsius (180 million Fahrenheit) or higher leading them to fuse into a new larger atom, giving off enormous amounts of energy, per a breakdown by Reuters.
But the process consumes vast amounts of energy and the trick has been to make the process self-sustaining, allowing more energy out than goes in, and to do so continuously instead of for brief moments.
Livermore scientists achieved this goal for the first time in December, in a process called “ignition,” that used the world’s largest and highest energy laser system, called the National Ignition Facility, to fuse hydrogen atoms
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