LIVERMORE, Calif. - Scientists announced Tuesday that they have for the first time produced more energy in a fusion reaction than was used to ignite it — a major breakthrough in the decades-long quest to harness the process that powers the sun.
Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California achieved the result, which is called net energy gain, the Energy Department said. Net energy gain has been an elusive goal because fusion happens at such high temperatures and pressures that it is incredibly difficult to control.
The breakthrough will pave the way for advancements in national defense and the future of clean power, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and other officials said.
"Ignition allows us to replicate for the first time certain conditions that are found only in the stars and the sun,″ Granholm told a news conference in Washington. "This milestone moves us one significant step closer to the possibility of zero-carbon abundant fusion energy powering our society.″
Fusion ignition is "one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century,″ Granholm said, adding that the breakthrough "will go down in the history books.″
Appearing with Granholm, White House science adviser Arati Prabhakar called the fusion ignition "a tremendous example of what perseverance really can achieve" and "an engineering marvel beyond belief.″
Proponents of fusion hope that it could one day offer nearly limitless, carbon-free energy and displace fossil fuels and other traditional energy sources. Producing energy that powers homes and businesses from fusion is still decades away. But researchers said the announcement marked a significant advance nonetheless.
"It’s almost like it’s a starting gun going off," said professor Dennis Whyte, director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a leader in fusion research. "We should be pushing towards making fusion energy systems available to tackle climate change and energy security."
Kim Budil, director of the Livermore Lab, said there are "very significant hurdles" to commercial use of fusion technology, but advances in recent years mean the technology is likely to be widely used in "a few decades" rather than 50 or 60 years as previously expected.
Fusion works by pressing hydrogen atoms into each other with such force that they combine into helium, releasing enormous amounts of energy and heat. Unlike other nuclear reactions, it doesn’t create radioactive waste.
President Joe Biden called the breakthrough a good example of the need to continue to invest in research and development. "Look what’s going on from the Department of Energy on the nuclear front. There’s a lot of good news on the horizon," he said at the White House.
Billions of dollars and decades of work have gone into fusion research that has produced exhilarating results — for fractions of a second. Previously, researchers at the National Ignition Facility, the division of Lawrence Livermore where the success took place, used 192 lasers and temperatures multiple times hotter than the center of the sun to create an extremely brief fusion reaction.
The lasers focus an enormous amount of heat on a small metal can. The result is a superheated plasma environment where fusion may occur.
Riccardo Betti, a professor at the University of Rochester and expert in laser fusion, said there’s a long road ahead before the net energy gain leads to sustainable electricity.
He likened the breakthrough to when humans first learned that refining oil into gasoline and igniting it could produce an explosion.
"You still don’t have the engine, and you still don’t have the tires," Betti said. "You can’t say that you have a car."
The net energy gain achievement applied to the fusion reaction itself, not the total amount of power it took to operate the lasers and run the project. For fusion to be viable, it will need to produce significantly more power and for longer.
It is incredibly difficult to control the physics of stars. Whyte said the fuel has to be hotter than the center of the sun. The fuel does not want to stay hot — it wants to leak out and get cold. Containing it is a challenge, he said.
The achievement of net energy gain isn’t a huge surprise from the California lab because of the progress it had already made, according to Jeremy Chittenden, a professor at Imperial College in London specializing in plasma physics.
But, he said, "that doesn’t take away from the fact that this is a significant milestone."
One approach to fusion turns hydrogen into plasma, an electrically charged gas, which is then controlled by humongous magnets. This method is being explored in France in a collaboration among 35 countries called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, as well as by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a private company.
Last year, the teams working on those projects on two continents announced significant advancements in the vital magnets needed for their work.
Wanasayansi wametangaza kwa mara ya kwanza kwamba wametengeneza nishati zaidi katika mmenyuko wa fusion kuliko ilivyotumiwa kuuzima - mafanikio makubwa katika juhudi za miongo kadhaa za kuitumia mchakato unaowezesha jua. Watafiti wa Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory huko California walipata matokeo hayo, ambayo yanaitwa faida ya nishati ya jumla. "Kuchanganya nishati kwa njia ya ""mfumo wa nyuklia"" ni jambo la kawaida, kwa sababu nyuklia huunganishwa na joto na shinikizo kubwa sana, na ni vigumu sana kudhibiti." "Ufanisi huo utafungua njia kwa maendeleo katika ulinzi wa kitaifa na siku zijazo za nishati safi, ""Katibu wa Nishati Jennifer Granholm na maafisa wengine walisema." "Ignition inaruhusu sisi kuiga kwa mara ya kwanza hali fulani ambazo hupatikana tu katika nyota na jua, ""Granholm alisema katika mkutano wa waandishi wa habari huko Washington." "Hii ni hatua muhimu katika kuimarisha uwezekano wa nishati ya fusion ya kaboni ya sifuri inayowezesha jamii yetu, ""alisema Granholm, akiongeza kwamba mafanikio hayo ""yaweza kuingia katika vitabu vya historia,"" akisema, ""Mshauri wa sayansi wa White House Arati Prabhupada alisema, ""mfano mkubwa wa kile ambacho uvumilivu unaweza kufikia"" na ""mwujiza wa uhandisi zaidi ya imani.""" Kutokeza nishati inayotumia nyuklia katika nyumba na biashara bado ni miaka mingi tu. Hata hivyo, watafiti wanasema taarifa hiyo ni hatua muhimu. "Ni karibu kama ni bunduki ya kuanza kwenda mbali", alisema profesa Dennis Whyte, mkurugenzi wa Plasma Sayansi na Fusion Center katika Taasisi ya Teknolojia ya Massachusetts na kiongozi katika utafiti wa fusion. "Tunapaswa kushinikiza kuelekea kufanya mifumo ya nishati ya fusion inapatikana ili kukabiliana na mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa na usalama wa nishati". Kim Budil, mkurugenzi wa maabara ya Livermore, alisema kuna "vizuizi vikubwa sana" kwa matumizi ya kibiashara ya teknolojia ya fusion, lakini maendeleo katika miaka ya hivi karibuni yanamaanisha teknolojia hiyo inaweza kutumika sana katika "miongo michache" badala ya miaka 50 au 60 kama ilivyotarajiwa hapo awali. Fusion hufanya kazi kwa kushinikiza atomu za hidrojeni kwa nguvu sana hivi kwamba huunganishwa na kutokeza heli, ikitoa kiasi kikubwa cha nishati na joto. Tofauti na athari nyingine za nyuklia, haitokezi taka za mnururisho. Rais Joe Biden ameiita mafanikio hayo mfano mzuri wa haja ya kuendelea kuwekeza katika utafiti na maendeleo. "Angalia nini kinachotokea kutoka Idara ya Nishati juu ya mbele ya nyuklia. Kuna habari nyingi nzuri kwenye upeo wa macho", alisema katika Ikulu ya White House. Mabilioni ya dola na miongo kadhaa ya kazi imepelekwa katika utafiti wa fusion ambayo imetoa matokeo yenye kusisimua - kwa sehemu ndogo za sekunde. Watafiti wa National Ignition Facility, sehemu ya Lawrence Livermore, walitumia lasers 192 na joto kali zaidi ya joto la jua kuunda mmenyuko wa fusion. Laser hizo hukazia joto kubwa sana kwenye chupa ndogo ya chuma. Matokeo ni mazingira ya plasma yenye joto la juu ambapo fusion yaweza kutokea. Riccardo Betti, profesa katika Chuo Kikuu cha Rochester na mtaalamu katika laser fusion, alisema kuna njia ndefu mbele kabla ya faida ya nishati ya jumla inaongoza kwa umeme endelevu. "Alilinganisha mafanikio hayo na wakati wanadamu walipojifunza kwa mara ya kwanza kwamba kusafisha mafuta na kuyafanya kuwa petroli na kuyateketeza kunaweza kusababisha mlipuko.""" "Bado huna injini, na bado hauna tairi", Betti akasema. "Huwezi kusema kwamba una gari". Ufanisi wa nishati ya jumla ulitumika kwa athari ya fusion yenyewe, sio kiasi cha jumla cha nguvu ilichukua kuendesha lasers na kuendesha mradi. Ili fusion iweze kuendelezwa, itahitaji kutokeza nishati nyingi zaidi na kwa muda mrefu zaidi. Ni vigumu sana kudhibiti hali ya fizikia ya nyota. Whyte alisema mafuta lazima kuwa moto kuliko kituo cha jua. Mafuta hawataki kukaa moto <unk> wanataka kuvuja nje na kupata baridi. Alisema kwamba ni vigumu kuzuia ugonjwa huo. Ufanisi wa kupata nishati safi sio mshangao mkubwa kutoka kwa maabara ya California kwa sababu ya maendeleo ambayo tayari ilikuwa imefanya, kulingana na Jeremy Chittenden, profesa katika Chuo cha Imperial huko London, maalumu katika fizikia ya plasma. Lakini, alisema, "hilo haliondoi ukweli kwamba hii ni hatua muhimu". Njia moja ya kuchanganya nyuklia ni kugeuza hidrojeni kuwa plasma, gesi yenye nishati ya umeme, ambayo kisha inadhibitiwa na sumaku kubwa. Utafiti huo unafanywa na shirika la kimataifa la utafiti wa nyuklia linaloitwa International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, na pia na watafiti wa Taasisi ya Teknolojia ya Massachusetts. Mwaka jana, timu zilizokuwa zikifanya kazi katika jimbo hilo zilitangaza maendeleo makubwa katika vifaa vya umeme vinavyohitajika katika kazi hiyo.