Nuclear fusion breakthrough confirmed, ignition successful

New research is now celebrating a breakthrough in fusion energy, but controversy remains: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has announced that they have successfully ignited nuclear fusion for the first time.

There have been reports of this kind many times, but they have never been confirmed. But that is exactly what should be different now, at least if you follow the first media reports about the successful ignition of nuclear fusion.

Success in August 2021

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory intends to do so Over a year on August 8, 2021 he started experimenting. At that time, with the help of 192 laser beams, much more energy was generated than the entire power Electricity network The United States supplies it by “pumping” it into a small golden capsule to ignite the thermonuclear fire that fuels the sun for a split second.
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After performing the experiment, we went back to the computer to evaluate all the recordings. Now there are three new research papers – one in Physical Review Letters and two in Physical Review E – claiming that The researchers achieved “Ignition”.. This will be the critical step in demonstrating that controlled nuclear fusion is possible.

1.9 megajoules of energy

However, the definition of the term “ignition” varies among scholars in the context of fusion, such that the assessment is now disputed. The August 2021 experiment required 1.9 megajoules of energy to start the fusion reaction in a small frozen grain of hydrogen isotopes and released 1.3 megajoules of energy, about 70 percent of the energy put into the experiment. In other words, more than a trillion watts of power was released, if only for a fraction of a second.

“The record snapshot was a major scientific advance in fusion research, proving that in vitro fusion start-up at NIF is possible,” Omar Hurrican, lead scientist for the fusion program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said in a statement. “It’s very exciting to have ‘evidence of’ ignition in the lab,” the hurricane continued. “We are working in a field that no researcher has entered since the end of nuclear testing, and this is a great opportunity to expand our knowledge as we continue to make progress.” However, experience is still very far from creating a sustainable and controlled fusion power plant.

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