Technology

US Scientists Achieve Fusion Power Breakthrough Again

Experiments must be repeatable in order to gain insights from them. In this respect, US scientists want to be able to report great success. For the second time, it has been possible to achieve a net energy gain in a fusion reaction.

Energy Surplus achieved again in Fusion Reaction

Breakthroughs in the field of nuclear fusion are always viewed with great skepticism, after all the technology has been promising to revolutionize the world since the 1950s, but does not want to stick to optimistic forecasts at all. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was therefore very cautious last December with a report that was in itself spectacular: for the first time, it was possible to generate excess energy in a fusion reaction. Months later, another important step follows the repetition of the experiment.

Like the Financial Times on the basis of “persons familiar with the matter”, the laboratory again succeeded in extracting energy from a nuclear fusion on July 30th. In December, the researchers had achieved a clear net surplus, and in the most recent experiment, it is said to be even higher. Such a huge achievement “just eight months” after the latest breakthrough gives hope that research in this area will accelerate significantly, one of the sources told FT.

‘As is our practice, we plan to share these results at upcoming scientific conferences and in peer-reviewed publications,’ the scientists said. In any case, it will be very interesting to see how the results will be received by the wider scientific community. In any case, countless breakthroughs and experiments are still necessary for commercial use, so here too no blueprint for a fusion power plant can be expected in the next few decades.