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Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California say they’ve achieved net energy gain in a nuclear fusion reaction for a second time — but this time with a higher energy yield, the Financial Times reported.
The breakthrough came in a July 30 experiment at the federal lab that produced a higher energy output than one in December, the news outlet reported.
Scientists warn, however, that fusion power stations are likely still decades away though “the technology’s potential is hard to ignore.”
Fusion reactions emit no carbon, produce no long-lived radioactive waste and a small cup of hydrogen fuel could theoretically power a house for hundreds of years, the news outlet noted.
“Since demonstrating fusion ignition for the first time at the National Ignition Facility in December, 2022, we have continued to perform experiments to study this exciting new scientific regime,” Paul Rhien, a spokesperson for the laboratory, told FT.
“In an experiment conducted on July 30, we repeated ignition at NIF,” the statement said. “As is our standard practice, we plan on reporting those results at upcoming scientific conferences and in peer-reviewed publications.”
According to FT, the most widely studied approach — magnetic confinement — uses magnets to hold the fuel in place while it’s heated to temperatures hotter than the sun. The NIF, however, uses a different process, called inertial confinement, in which it fires the world’s largest laser at a tiny capsule of the fuel triggering an implosion.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in December described the achievement of ignition as “one of the most impressive science feats of the 21st century,” FT reported.
Achieving net energy gain has been seen for decades as a crucial step in proving that commercial fusion power stations are possible. But there are still hurdles to come, the news outlet noted.
The latest improved result at NIF, coming “only eight months” after the initial breakthrough, is a sign the pace of progress is increasing, an unnamed source told FT.