Fusion energy might soon witness its next breakthrough. With the help of a powerful laser at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), scientists have managed to heat up two hydrogen isotopes higher than the temperature of the Sun’s core. This process is also called inertial confinement fusion (ICF).
During the experiment done at the NIF, researchers were able to harvest 70 percent of the energy used by the laser to initiate the fusion reaction inside the reactor, reports BBC. While it doesn’t sound like a huge deal, it’s is a big leap in the area. “This is a huge advance for fusion and for the entire fusion community,” physicist Debbie Callahan told BBC.
Holy grail of clean energy?
In simpler words, researchers are slowly moving towards the point where they are close to “achieving nuclear fusion,” or producing a net-positive amount of energy. The research for clean energy has been ongoing for almost a century.
Fusion energy promises an infinite supply of carbon-neutral energy without having to worry about a nuclear meltdown. Scientists at the NIF are excited because the fusion reaction is starting to be hot enough to lead to ignition, which means more fusion reactions.
“Self-sustaining burn is essential to getting high yield,” Callahan explained. “The burn wave has to propagate into the high-density fuel in order to get a lot of fusion energy out.”
Extraordinary achievement
“Demonstration of ignition has been a major scientific grand challenge since the idea was first published almost 50 years ago,” said Jeremy Chittenden, co-director of the Centre for Inertial Fusion Studies at Imperial College London. “It was the principal reason for the construction of NIF and has been its primary objective for over a decade.”
“The NIF team has done an extraordinary job,” said Steven Rose, director of the Center for Inertial Fusion Studies at Imperial. “This is the most significant advance in inertial fusion since its beginning in 1972.”
Back in June, engineers moved the world’s most powerful magnet to the ITER fusion reactor. It is the world’s largest experimental fusion reactor which is located in France. The massive 1,000-ton solenoid can produce a magnetic field of 13 Tesla, around 280,000 times stronger than Earth’s.
