Breakthrough in nuclear fusion raises hopes for unlimited clean energy source | DW News

The US Department of Energy announced a major breakthrough in nuclear fusion technology on Tuesday. Scientists at the California-based Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) successfully generated a "net energy gain" using nuclear fusion in a lab for the first time.
"This is a landmark achievement for the researchers and staff at the National Ignition Facility who have dedicated their careers to seeing fusion ignition become a reality, and this milestone will undoubtedly spark even more discovery,” said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.
For decades, scientists have pumped more energy into experimental fusion reactors than the total new energy created in the process. This setback has made nuclear fission — not fusion — the default preference in the pursuit of limitless, zero-carbon power, despite its health and safety risks.
On December 5, 2022, NIF scientists conducted the first controlled fusion experiment in history in which more energy was produced from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it.

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[Will-note]

Scientific advances need more mainstream spotlight in the media.

[felipedigregorio]

I can't congratulate enough all the scientists working in fusion energy for such amazing milestones. This is an absolute milestone for humanity and I wish more people would understand and support these scientific efforts

[kmay]

Well done all scientists everywhere around world constantly looking to improve lives of humanity. Science rocks!

[Vpy]

This exactly is what is required for real green energy !! We desperately need it!!

[sccur]

So glad that for every hundred snarky YouTube commenters putting out in the world nothing but bad hot takes, there's at least one scientist out there trying to make the world a better place.

[PaulVoorberg]

She's shining so bright, looks like there's fusion happening right on her face. Happy for her.

[EuanWhitehead]

Let's hope this GENUINELY continues to improve. And let's hope whilst it does we dont end ourselves in a war or whatever.

[voryndagothur]

I love this, she has that kind of infectious happiness that a scientist who's had a breakthrough has.

[anickname]

Never better time for such discovery than the present

[mistergoodbear]

Scientists announce huge scientific breakthrough with potential to solve serious global problems... brilliant commenters on YouTube make snarky remarks about it...

[prabath]

These r the achievement we need for improvement ❤

[sizanogreen]

Incredible. It seems like commercial fusion power is now only 20 years away!

[hitrapperandartistdababy]

This is why I love science. IT WORKS!! Everyone involved should be very very proud of themselves! They deserve abudant praise

[stephenkeen]

It's important to note that while the process did produce more energy than they put in, they didn't get that energy out... They still don't have an efficient way to capture the energy produced. So while it is a milestone, there are much bigger hurdles to overcome before it can even come close to being a usable source of energy.

[robertsanders]

I am 55 and nuclear fusion has always been an elusive thing that will happen sometime in the future - just like finding a decent woman to share my life with.

[JJs_playground]

This is very impressive! The "minor" tidbit they keep leaving out from these newscasts, is that it took 500MJs to power the LASERs to create the fusion reaction. So, although the fusion reaction required to start the process was 1.5MJ and we got 3MJ out they keep forgetting to mention the 500MJ needed to power the LASERs.

[shintsu]

while its always nice to see progression, i am sad to see that the news is not always clear on what the improvements are and how much we still need to do. Normally they only talk about Qplasma and not Qtotal so i am wondering when we are at the stage we will see other steps made to towards the goal of actually generating electricity not just the plasma. or will this not something in my lifetime to experience?

[Bultish]

hmm how was that "net" calculated

[marcobagut]

This is awesome! I wish I could healthily live for another 100 years, just to see all these developments!

[aum]

3:11 “we need to reach temperatures of about 150’000’000 degrees [Celsius]. This is non negligible.”

Definitely not.