Nuclear Fusion Has Broken Even For the First Time Ever

…Nuclear fusion, the same process that powers the sun, could provide us with limitless cheap energy—but experiments to date have always used more power than they created. Now, though, researchers have apparently tipped that balance, making fusion a real possibility

….Usually, they have to dump more power in using the lasers than they manage to create from the fusion reaction…

…the “amount of energy released through the fusion reaction exceeded the amount of energy being absorbed by the fuel”. If it’s true, it’s the first time any fusion experiment has managed such a feat…

…What researchers really want to achieve is ignition: the point at which the nuclear fusion reaction generates as much energy as the lasers supply…

…inefficiencies in the fusion system which mean that not all the energy supplied through the laser is delivered to the fuel.

…A little more work, and fusion could soon become a real thing. [BBC]

Image by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory…