Scientists in the US have succeeded for the second time in generating extra energy from a nuclear fusion. This time it succeeded in generating more energy than during the successful test in December.
The second test took place at the end of July. Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory shared preliminary results over the weekend. The tests are compared even more extensively with each other.
With 192 lasers, the researchers shot more than 2 megajoules of energy into a cylinder. This created a fusion reaction in the fuel, made of deuterium and tritium. For the first time, more energy was released than the lasers put in.
If we succeed in creating such high-speed fusion reactions in the future, it could provide abundant clean energy. No harmful gases are released and no radioactive waste is produced.
Nuclear fusion is the process that also takes place in the sun and ensures that the earth is habitable.
Major problems still need to be solved before a power station can run on nuclear fusion. In any case, it will be decades before the technology is commercially applied, the scientists warn.
Meanwhile, Europe is also testing nuclear fusion. In a few years’ time, an experimental reactor will be opened in the south of France where scientists hope to demonstrate nuclear fusion in a different way.
2023-08-07 11:48:01
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