US scientists once again achieve nuclear fusion breakthrough in releasing limitless energy

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said on Sunday (August 6) that American researchers have successfully replicated a nuclear fusion reaction that released more energy than it consumed. Almond Li provides more.

After months of close calls, American scientists have successfully recreated what looks to be an energy breakthrough: a nuclear fusion process that produced more energy than it consumed. It is thought that duplicating the fusion process seen in the sun would one day provide a nearly endless and clean energy source.

According to researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, they first accomplished the feat using lasers in December and then duplicated it in an experiment in late July.

This time, however, a lab spokeswoman said that while final data are still being examined, the scientists were able to create an even greater energy output. The goal of the experiment is to simulate fusion via a process known as nuclear ignition. It entails directing a laser beam onto a target fuel in order to combine two hydrogen atoms, which are lighter than other elements, to create heavier elements and produce an energy burst.

After the laser delivered somewhat more than two megajoules to the target during the December test, around three megajoules of energy were produced.

It was dubbed “a major scientific breakthrough decades in the making” by the U.S. Energy Department, which also noted that it would open the door for improvements in national security and the development of renewable energy.

The progress since December has been praised by scientists outside the facility, but they told Reuters that much more work is still required before fusion power can be used commercially.