American Scientists Reproduce "Nuclear Fusion Ignite" Breakthrough Nuclear Fusion | Scientists | United States
According to multiple foreign media reports on the 6th, scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a subsidiary of the US Department of Energy, have successfully replicated the breakthrough of "nuclear fusion ignition" after December last year, achieving "net energy gain" for the second time in controllable nuclear fusion experiments.
A spokesperson for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory told the media that scientists at the laboratory successfully replicated the breakthrough of "nuclear fusion ignition" in an experiment conducted using the "National Ignite Experimental Facility" on July 30 this year, and achieved a higher "net energy gain" compared to the experiment conducted in December last year.
Nuclear fusion is a source of energy for the sun and stars. Under the immense heat and gravity in the cores of these celestial bodies, hydrogen nuclei collide with each other, coalescing into heavier helium atoms and releasing a large amount of energy during this process. Nuclear fusion does not produce radioactive waste. Controllable nuclear fusion technology is expected to provide humans with almost unlimited clean energy, helping them break free from dependence on fossil fuels.
The US Department of Energy issued a statement in December last year stating that US researchers conducted their first ever controlled nuclear fusion experiment at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignite Facility on the 5th of that month. In the experiment, the National Ignite Experimental Facility inputted 2.05 megajoules of energy into the target, producing a fusion energy output of 3.15 megajoules, demonstrating for the first time the most basic scientific principle of inertial confinement fusion.
Inertial confinement fusion is a fusion reaction initiated by using laser shock waves to reach extremely high temperatures and pressures in fuel balls typically containing deuterium and tritium. In addition to inertial confinement fusion, another mainstream solution to achieve controllable fusion is magnetic confinement fusion, which refers to the use of a special form of magnetic field to confine ultra-high temperature plasma within a limited volume, allowing it to undergo controlled fusion reactions.
According to reports, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory conducted a series of repeated experiments this spring and summer, but none of them were able to successfully achieve "nuclear fusion ignition", meaning that the experimental output energy did not exceed the input energy. An experiment conducted in June this year achieved energy balance. Currently, scientists are still analyzing the results of the latest experiment on July 30th and are expected to be officially published in academic conferences or journals.
