Initially, the news was hailed as a ‘milestone for future clean power’, but critics have highlighted the reasons why it may not be as great an achievement as it first seemed, and provide explanations for why nuclear fusion may not be available everywhere and soon enough.įirstly, many have highlighted that the NIF project has been running behind schedule for several years, and was initially intended to achieve ignition by 2012 however, delays and cost overrunning have affected the speed of success of the project. Research into the fusion process and capabilities has been ongoing since the early 1950s, but this is reportedly the first time that the laboratory produced more energy than it consumed. Nuclear energy now provides about 10% of the world’s electricity from about 440 power reactors located in 32 countries. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory director, Kim Budil, described the achievement as “the fundamental building block of an inertial confinement fusion power scheme.” The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California reported that lasers delivered 2.05 million joules (MJ) of energy to the target, which resulted in a release of 3.15 MJ of energy – generating 54% more energy than went into the reaction (also described as an energy net gain). The project – described as having “ the power of the sun ” – has sparked discussions on the reality of powering the world with nuclear fusion. In December last year, reports that a successful nuclear fusion reaction achieved a net energy gain in the US generated excitement among the scientific community.
Scientists have claimed that the reaction could provide ample clean energy, which is vital for the planet’s future, and some of the world’s major developed and emerging economies, including the EU, US, China, India, Japan, Korea, and Russia, are backing efforts to scale up nuclear fusion.
Learn more about nuclear fusion here: What is Nuclear Fusion? In other words, nuclear fusion generates energy by combining nuclei instead of splitting it up. In a nutshell, nuclear fusion is the exact opposite of nuclear fission instead of splitting up, multiple smaller and lighter nuclei such as hydrogen are combined to form a heavier nucleus such as helium, which produces significant energy during the process. Instead, nuclear fusion is a relatively new concept, confined largely among the scientific community as it is yet to be a commercialised method of producing nuclear energy. However, this method generates electricity by splitting atoms (also known as nuclear fission ). Nuclear energy now provides about 10% of the world’s electricity from about 440 power reactors located across 32 countries. However, critics have advised that there is still a long way to go to make nuclear fusion a viable, clean energy source, stressing that perhaps the recent news is not quite the ‘breakthrough’ they’d hoped for. Against a backdrop of fuel shortages, energy crises and blackouts across the globe, the possibility of powering the world with nuclear fusion is seemingly positive. Last month, scientists reported a breakthrough in nuclear fusion research when a reaction resulted in a net energy gain. Earth.Org is powered by over 150 contributing writers
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