Scientists Are On the Edge of a Fusion Power Breakthrough

August 18th, 2021

Awake Goy

Fusion energy — to many, the holy grail of sustainable energy — is on the edge of its next breakthrough.

Using a powerful laser at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in California, researchers managed to heat up a peppercorn-sized sample of two hydrogen isotopes well past the temperature of the Sun’s core, a process known as inertial confinement fusion (ICF).

ICF is one of two major branches of fusion energy research, with the other being “magnetic confinement fusion,” a field that has seen its own recent breakthroughs.

During the experiment carried out at the NIF earlier this month, scientists managed to harvest 70 percent of the energy — about 1.35 kilojoules worth — used by the powerful laser to start the fusion reaction inside the reactor, the BBC reports.

While that may not sound like much, it’s a big leap in the field. “This is a huge advance for fusion and for the entire fusion community,” Debbie Callahan, a physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where the NIF is located, told the BBC.