Could this be the beginning of a new era?

Researchers at the National Ignition Facility in California came forth with a breakthrough this week achieving nuclear fusion. This discovery may change the way we which produce electricity and power our cities, which is something that we really need nowadays due to the impending climate crisis.

•What is Nuclear Fusion?

Nuclear fusion is the combination of two atomic nuclei into one. On the other hand, nuclear fission, which is the process used in nuclear energy today, is splitting an atom into two atomic nuclei.

Why is it so important?

The downside of nuclear fission is that it produces radioactive waste, which, if tampered with, can cause massive destruction just like what happened in the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. With nuclear fusion, however, radioactive waste decays faster and is less radioactive. Moreover, it only requires elements that are readily available or elements that can be made using nuclear fusion.

How does it work?

The process of nuclear fusion is the same process that fuels the sun. It requires 10 million degrees Celsius and lots of pressure for it to happen. This has proved to be extremely difficult to recreate, but the scientists at the National Ignition Facility in California were able to produce more energy than what was used up by the lasers.

The amount of energy they produced was an astonishing 45 kilowatts.

Despite the upsides, there are issues still at hand. The most obvious issue is that we need to find a way to scale this operation. The largest amount of energy produced using nuclear fusion is only 11 megawatts at the UK-Based Jet Laboratory. [A video of what happened during the experiment: https://youtu.be/Cw07SBM1h-s ].

Moreover, our electricity infrastructure is not suited for the transportation of the energy released by nuclear fusion. It will cost millions if not billions of dollars to adapt the whole grid.