The advance demonstrated the fundamental feasibility of fusion energy, a goal researchers have been pursuing since the 1950s. But scientific experiments require the world’s most powerful lasers, and aren’t a straightforward, practical route to fusion energy.More scientific and engineering breakthroughs needed to transform fusion From laboratory experiments to business technology Can provide reliable carbon-free energy to the grid.
In a fusion reaction, whether in a reactor or the core of a star, atoms smash into each other until they fuse, releasing energy. The goal of fusion energy is to get more energy from the reaction than is used to power the fuel and keep it in place, and do it in a controlled manner. Until now, this has not been proven.
NIF’s fusion reaction achieved this goal, producing 3.15 megajoules of energy, which exceeds the 2.05 megajoules provided by the lasers used in the reactor. Last year, the same facility generated about 70 percent of the laser reaction energy. The lasers require more energy to operate than they can supply to the reactor, but even seeing a net increase in energy within the system is an important milestone.
“It puts a lot of momentum into the sails of the community,” said anne white, Chair of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But, she added, that doesn’t mean we’ll see fusion power on the grid tomorrow: “That’s not realistic.”
The lab uses the world’s largest and most powerful lasers in a fusion method called inertial confinement.
While inertial confinement is the first fusion option to yield a net energy gain, it is not the most likely path forward for any possible commercial fusion endeavor. Many fusion scientists believe that magnetic confinement—specifically, a circular reactor known as a tokamak—is a better option.
The net gains seen in the inertial confinement experiments did not translate back to other fusion energy approaches, such as the tokamak. The physics and engineering to achieve this vary for different concepts, White said.
