A significant advancement in nuclear fusion has been confirmed a year after it was achieved, the results of which have now been published in three peer-reviewed papers.
On August 8, 2021, researchers recorded the first case of ignition at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL's) National Ignition Facility (NIF) in California.
Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the Sun, heavy hydrogen atoms collide to form a helium atom, releasing large quantities of energy as a by-product.
Ignition during a fusion reaction means that the reaction itself produced enough energy to be self-sustaining, which would be necessary in order to generate electricity.
The problem with fusion energy is that we lack the technical capabilities to harness this power. Scientists from across the world are attempting to solve these issues.
"The record shot was a major scientific advance in fusion research, which establishes that fusion ignition in the lab is possible at NIF."
- Omar Hurricane, Chief Scientist for LLNL's Inertial Confinement Fusion Program
Researchers at the LLNL recorded an energy yield of 1.3 megajoules (MJ) for a few nanoseconds.
The result comes after years of research into improving and perfecting the process. Over 1,000 authors are included in the Physical Review Letters paper.
