Nuclear fusion:for the first time, more energy was generated than was needed to trigger the reaction

The United States announces a major milestone in nuclear fusion:for the first time in history a positive balance was achieved.

• The US Department of Energy has announced a breakthrough in the field of nuclear fusion.
• For the first time in the history of the experiments, a positive balance of energy produced was achieved.
• It will still take decades for nuclear fusion to be used for civilian uses.

The United States announces the breakthrough in nuclear fusion:for the first time it was a reaction has been successfully achieved with a net gain of energy, i.e. with more energy produced than that used to trigger the reaction.The milestone was achieved by US scientists from the National Ignition Facility and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

The news was officially released on December 13, 2022 by the United States Department of Energy.The result of the experiment was presented as a huge step forward in research – now decades old – to obtain energy production systems through nuclear fusion, a source considered clean and safe which would help our economy to put an end to dependence on fossil fuels.

What is nuclear fusion

Fusion is a nuclear reaction in which the nuclei of two or more atoms join together forming the nucleus of a new chemical element, more or less the opposite of nuclear fission where, through a chain reaction, the atoms are split .The breakdown of light elements (such as hydrogen) to form heavier elements releases a huge amount of energy in the process.Scientists have long been trying to reproduce in the laboratory the reaction that gives rise to the heat and light of the sun and other stars, in order to ensure humanity has enormous potential as a sustainable energy source and low carbon emissions.

For fusion to be possible in the laboratory a large amount of input energy is required, capable of overcoming the electromagnetic repulsion of the nuclei.And this has always been the main obstacle in achieving nuclear fusion in the laboratory:To date, the most advanced research project has been the prototype of Iter nuclear reactor, which should conclude the experimental phase in 2035 and then only really come into operation in 2050.Too late to help energy transition towards more sustainable sources.

A goal achieved for the first time

In the United States, much of the work in the field of nuclear fusion research is taking place at the National Ignition Facility (Nif) of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, in a building the size of three football fields.The NIF project creates energy from nuclear fusion through what is known as “thermonuclear inertial fusion”:in practice, scientists simultaneously direct the beam of 192 lasers onto a tiny metal cylinder, inside which there is a spherical capsule with a diameter of three or four millimeters made up of two key elements to obtain the nuclear fusion reaction:deuterium and tritium.In a few moments, a temperature of around 3 million degrees which caused the cylinder to melt and the two metals, reacting, released an enormous amount of energy.

Last year, the NIF he announced to have obtained a 70 percent efficient nuclear fusion reaction, that is, capable of producing 70 percent of the energy used to trigger the reaction itself.A good result but still in the negative balance range.With today's announcement, nuclear fusion for civilian uses it could be closer.As mentioned, in fact, the researchers obtained, for the first time in history of experiments in this field, more energy from a nuclear fusion reaction than is input.

But we are still far from providing electricity to our homes

Good news, in short.But be careful:you need to wait still a long time before this technology is able to power our homes.The great challenge of harnessing fusion energy is making sure it lasts for a period of time enough time to be able to power the electricity grids and heating systems around the world.The turning point announced by the United States is a step forward in this direction, but up a scale that is still too small compared to what is needed to operate even a single power plant.At the moment, in fact, the energy produced would be enough to heat 10 kettles of water.

“They will take it decades to reach commercial use of clean energy from nuclear fusion after the experiment in California,” said Kim Budil, director of the Lawrence Livermore national laboratory, where the test was conducted."There are very significant obstacles, not only on a scientific but technological level", he began.“This was the one-time ignition of a capsule but to obtain commercial fusion energy you need many things.You have to be able to produce many fusion ignition events per minute and you have to have a robust system of drive elements to make them happen.”The researcher predicts that “with concerted efforts and investments, and a few decades of research into the necessary technologies, we will be in a position to build a power plant.”

In this regard, it has not been clarified how much will a reactor cost capable of producing nuclear fusion energy.Other projects under construction provide us with some estimates:The process should cost 13 billion euros – but there are those who say it could easily reach 30 billion – not to mention the enormous amount of energy needed to continue with the experiments.The hope is that at least the latter, from now on, will be "repaid" by the experiments themselves.