US nuclear fusion experiment to bring energy revolution

In August 2021, US nuclear scientists in a laboratory in National Ignition Facility (NIF), California generated about 10 quadrillion watts of fusion energy using mammoth-sized lasers, hoping to offer the world a new and alternative energy source. During the experiment, they focused their array of 200 laser beams onto a minute spot to create a mega blast of energy. eight times more than ever before. Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei combine to form different subatomic particles resulting in a release of large quantity of energy that can even make a hydrogen bomb explode.

Professor Steven Rose of the Imperial College, London, praised the team of NIF for the significant advance in the field of inertial fusion since its onset in 1972. Another professor from the same university, Jeremy Chittenden however warned that turning this into a usable source of electrical energy will be time-consuming and technologically challenging. But researchers are confident to advance as a result of the help they’re expecting from AI, superconducting magnets and 3D printing that may overcome these challenges.

About 2 dozen investors are expected to spend over 300 million dollars in this project. Giant tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon have collaborated to demonstrate this net energy gain by 2025. The holy grain behind this innovation is that it will not only create unlimited source of energy but also put an end to the emission of greenhouse gases and production of long-term waste. However, the technology and money behind building a fusion reactor and thereafter regulating it is still far-fetched to many people, which is why the experts believe that harnessing fusion energy still has a long way to go.