Fusion energy has been promised for decades now. I remember watching BBC Horizon documentaries about it in the 1990s; it was always ‘just around the corner’. But now it seems we have an actual breakthrough. For the first time, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California could generate more energy than it took to start a reaction.
Fusion is different from nuclear fission. It is a very clean energy source, with none of the pollution and greenhouse gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels and none of the dangerous radioactive waste created by existing nuclear power plants, which use the splitting of uranium to produce energy.
At the moment, it is early days, but it’s a promising step on the road to clean energy. It is amazing what humanity can do if we put our minds to it.
For the first time ever, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have achieved a nuclear fusion reaction that resulted in a net energy gain, sources said https://t.co/GvFnOcLu9x pic.twitter.com/CYxWw9x1FQ
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 13, 2022
I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the Slugger team, I am not that interested in daily politics, preferring to write about big ideas in society. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.
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