On Dec. 13, 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) had made a major breakthrough in the pursuit of fusion energy. A team at NIF conducted the first controlled fusion experiment that produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it, a condition known as ignition.
The team focused 2.05 megajoules of laser light onto a piece of fuel the size of a peppercorn. This resulted in an explosion producing 3.15 megajoules. This accomplishment is not only a small energy gain, but also a massive step forward in the field.
(Credit: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) The hohlraum that houses the type of cryogenic target used to achieve ignition on Dec. 5, 2022, at LLNL’s National Ignition Facility.
“This demonstrates it can be done,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said at a press conference announcing the achievement. Granholm added that, with this threshold crossed, scientists can now start working on more efficient lasers, better containment and other details needed to take this to a commercial scale.
(Credit: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) To create fusion ignition, the National Ignition Facility’s laser energy is converted into X-rays inside the hohlraum, which then compress a fuel capsule until it implodes, creating a high temperature, high pressure plasma.
President Biden says he wants to see a commercial fusion reactor within a decade. Getting there is still a challenge, but today’s announcement makes it look far more realistic than ever.
As we celebrate these results and await more good news, here are ten things you need to know about nuclear fusion:
1. Is Nuclear Fusion Possible?
News reports about progress in fusion energy have been sporadic and often overblown, leading some to completely discount the potential of fusion energy. Yet scientists have been steadily progressing toward what is often called “the holy grail” of energy. As today’s announcement shows, they’re getting closer to that goal. There are some very real hurdles left, but fusion energy is not science fiction, nor is it some kind of futurist’s fantasy. It’s a real technology, and as we learned today, it’s achievable.
2. What Is Nuclear Fusion?
Nuclear fusion is a process where two small atomic nuclei merge to create a larger nucleus, which results in the release of significant energy. This process occurs in a state known as plasma, characterized by high temperatures that help overcome the repulsive forces between nuclei. The fusion reaction, which powers the sun and other stars, requires conditions of extreme temperatures and pressure to enable the nuclei to collide and combine.
Read More: How Do Stars Produce and Release Energy?
3. Who Discovered Nuclear Fusion?
The discovery of nuclear fusion gradually occurred over time, not all at once. It began to take shape in the 1920s when Arthur Eddington suggested stars fuse hydrogen into helium,
