Using nuclear fusion as a source of energy has been studied and anticipated for at least 60 years. But scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory last week conducted, for the first time, a nuclear fusion event that produced a net gain of energy.
They fired 192 lasers at a tiny pellet of fuel, creating nuclear fusion and producing 3.5 megajoules of energy.
“They designed this experiment so that the fusion fuel stayed hot enough, dense enough, and round enough for long enough that it ignited and it produced more energy than the lasers had deposited.” said Marvin Adams with the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Adams was one of many who spoke at an Energy Department press conference Tuesday in Washington D.C. to announce the research breakthrough.
George Tynan watched that press conference from many miles away, in San Diego. Tynan is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering who has studied nuclear fusion for many years.
“The experiment was a very significant milestone on the pathway to fusion as a potential energy source,” Tynan said. “That’s the potential for an on-demand energy source that doesn’t produce carbon emissions, that doesn’t use fossil fuels. And if we engineer it properly, it has waste products that are not hazardous for more than a few decades.”
Fusion takes place when two hydrogen nuclei collide, prompted by very high heat. They fuse and give off energy. It’s the same energy produced by our sun.
Not all fusion is done using lasers. Tynan is researching fusion that uses strong magnetic fields. He said using fusion to produce energy for our homes will require a lot more science and engineering. He added that he’s uncomfortable calling fusion the "holy grail" of clean abundant energy.
“I see this as a technology that can play in concert with renewable energy. With electrification of the transportation system. Electrification of many other parts of the economy,” Tynan said.
Above all, he said we need to prove that fusion makes sense, both scientifically and economically.
“Fusion then needs to win a place in the marketplace. It will be competing with other forms of clean generation and it needs to be developed as a cost-effective technology. And that will require building multiple demonstration and test reactors,” he said.
Will we see fusion energy production in our lifetimes? The Biden administration wants to see a fusion demonstration plant built within ten years. Tynan said that would be possible, but difficult.
