MONITORING DESK
ISLAMABAD: A team of US researchers announced a historic nuclear fusion breakthrough on Tuesday, in a landmark achievement in the search for an unlimited, clean power source and end to reliance on fossil fuels.
The California-based Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) said that its experiment, conducted this month, generated more energy from fusion than laser energy.
“It is a big scientific breakthrough that will lead to advancement in the future of clean energy and national defense”, the US Department of Energy said in a statement.
While LLNL director Kim Budil said that it was one of the most important challenges ever tackled by humanity.
Scientists worked for decades to make nuclear fusion
Scientists and researchers have been working for decades to make a nuclear fusion, touted by its supporters as an abundant, safe, and clean energy that could eventually allow humanity to end its reliance on fossil fuels.
The LLNL carried out the successful experiment on 5 December and declared it as a scientific energy breakdown.
Fusion combines two light hydrogen atoms to form a heavier helium atom, and released a huge amount of energy in the process. The process is like that of the sun and its surrounding stars.
On earth, fusion reactions can be created by heating hydrogen on extreme temperatures inside specialized devices.
Fusion is carbon-free during operation just like fission, but it has many advantages as it poses no risk of nuclear disaster and generates very low levels of radioactive waste. However, the new fusion technology would still take a long time to be used on an industrial scale.
