Technology Breakthrough – Producing Fusion Energy From Lasers

Scientists have known all along that fusion energy can produce vast amount of energy (like what happen in the Sun) but the conditions to create fusion energy are complicated.

Current nuclear power is based on fission, which operates through splitting large atoms, which creates radioactive nuclear waste. But the process of fusion releases clean energy when small atoms like hydrogen are squashed together into heavier elements.

Now, we are a step closer to producing fusion energy… using lasers. Initially, there were doubts about using powerful lasers because the “plasma” they create could interrupt the fusion energy.

However, an article in Science showed the plasma is far less of a problem than expected.  The report is based on the first experiments from the National Ignition Facility (Nif) in the US that used all 192 of its laser beams. Along the way, the experiments smashed the record for the highest energy from a laser – by a factor of 20.

Siegfried Glenzer, the Nif plasma scientist, believes ignition (lab-controlled thermonuclear explosion) could happen this year.

This will definitely herald a new era in large-scale clean energy production. Cool!

Source: BBC

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