Judy: For the first time,
scientists have produced a
nuclear fusion reaction that
created more energy than was
expended -- a breakthrough to
tap into the same kind of energy
that powers the sun and stars.
Researchers at the Lawrence
Livermore national laboratory in
California announced the details
today.
And it could have huge
implications for potentially
creating clean and limitless
energy some day.
But that day is many years away.
To help us understand what was
achieved and what still needs to
happen, I'm joined by our
science correspondent miles
o'ien.
Hello.
Remind us, what is fusion?
What is nuclear fusion?
Lindsay: -- Miles: Nuclear
fusion is what powers the stars,
what powers our sun.
Essentially what happens is a
couple of hydrogen atoms come
together and they fuse and when
they fuse, they create a
tremendous amount of energy.
This happens on the sun under
tremendously rigorous conditions
with a lot of gravity and force.
It's very difficult to replicate
that here on Earth.
Judy: And what exactly is the
breakthrough that these
scientists achieved?
Miles: As you said, it happened
at the Lawrence Livermore
national laboratory, the
national ignition facility, the
most powerful laser in the
world.
192 lasers pointed at something
about the size of a peppercorn
inside a cylinder.
The energy which was delivered
to that cylinder was on the
order of two megajoules.
Just for point of reference, one
kilowatt hour equates to 3.6
megajoules.
So in any case, two megajoules
came in.
It ignited those hydrogen atoms,
they fused and created more
energy, essentially, one mega
joule more.
That is the first time that's
ever happened in a laboratory
experiment.
Obviously, it's not to scale.
There's a lot of work to be
done, but it's a moment to
remember.
Judy: You said a lot of work to
be done.
So how far are we from taking
this breakthrough and turning it
into something that can be
scaled and used for commercial
purposes?
Miles: Well, just to give you a
point of reference here, they're
able to do this once a day.
They need to be able to do this
10 times a second, in order for
there to be enough electricity
to be practical, and scalable is
something you want to plug into
the grid.
So you get an idea that it's
many orders of magnitude away
from that.
There's a lot of work that needs
to be done.
We need to improve the
technologies that are involved
in these lasers, among other
things.
But that said, there's a lot of
focus on fusion right now,
particularly in the context of
the climate emergency.
The Biden administration has a
decadal effort to accelerate the
efforts in this realm.
Let's listen to the secretary of
energy Jennifer Granholm.
Sec. Granholm: If we can advance
fusion energy, we could use it
to produce clean electricity,
transportation fuels, power
heavy industry, so much more.
It would be like adding a power
drill to our toolbox in building
this clean energy economy.
Miles: So nice drill, but we're
still a little bit away.
I just want to make sure we
temper the excitement a little
bit.
Judy: And thank you for that
because it's easy to get our
hopes up.
Give us about that a little bit
of history of this project.
You were telling us that
originally this was all about
nuclear weapons.
Miles: Yeah, this the national
ignition facility is all about
kind of creating the
circumstances inside a hydrogen
bomb.
This was created after the U.S.
Agreed to stop underground
testing of nuclear weapons in
the mid 90s.
So in order to make the
stockpile stay safe, and to
ensure they can develop weapons
in the future, and figure out
ways to test it.
So that's what this was built
for.
It was never built with the idea
of creating commercialized
energy but along the way, they
, discovered it can be done,
although it is a very complex
way to do it.
Judy: And miles, you were
reminding us that there are
other experiments out there
involving nuclear fusion.
Explain what the difference is
between what that has been and
this.
Miles: This one was designed to
help bomb acres to their job and
we get some energy on it.
But the other idea which was
thought of initially as a way to
produce civilian electricity is
called a tokomak, which is a
giant racetrack, doughnut style
racetrack with magnets, huge
facilities, which create the
circumstances where you can fuse
these atoms in a very different
way.
And there's half a dozen or so
of these projects all around the
world, public and private.
And they are making steady
progress.
But this is tough.
And despite all the talk today
about the U.S. Being leaders in
all this, the there are other
nations which are kind of
driving the bus on this.
I spoke with the president of
fusion power associates, Steve
Dean, who's been in this
business for 60 years.
He has a of seen them, and go.
Here's what he had to say.
Pres. Dean: So most of the money
and most of the effort is not
here, in spite of how we all
think of ourselves as always
being in the lead and
everything.
The Chinese are way ahead of us
and the uk is way ahead of us,
and Japan is right in the mix.
So all you hear about in the
U.S. Is the U.S.
But the really the the momentum
for fusion right now is
overseas.
Miles: That said there are more
, than 30 private fusion
companies in the world and most
of them are in the U.S.
There's about a two and a half
billion dollar investment there.
Meanwhile, the government is
spending about a billion dollars
a year to advance this
technology.
But Judy, I should remind you
the old joke among physicists is
fusion is 20 years off, and it
always will be.
It's hard to say how much we are
closer today.
But it seems like this is a
milestone to remember.
Judy: I actually remember a
physics teacher in high school
mentioning nuclear fusion.
That was a long time ago.
And you're saying there's still
a lot of work to be done.
Miles o'brien, thank you very
much.
Miles: You are welcome, Judy.