The US Department of Energy is set to announce on Tuesday that American researchers have succeeded in producing a nuclear fusion reaction creating a net gain of energy for the first time.
The results of the experiment, reported by the Washington Post ahead of the Department’s announcement, is considered a major step forward in the quest to harness nuclear fusion as a clean energy source that would reduce the use of carbon-based fuels.
The experiment was carried out by scientists at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, according to the Financial Times. It was the culmination of decades spend attempting to harness nuclear fusion, which is the source of energy that powers the sun.
Nuclear fusion is the process that takes place when several atoms fuse into a new, larger atom. The reaction creates an enormous charge of energy released as heat.
In February, British scientists announced they had doubled the record for creating and sustaining nuclear fusion, CNN reported. The experiment was conducted in a giant machine known as a tokamak, a device that uses a magnetic field to confine plasma in the shape of a donut. With the machine, the scientists created a record amount of sustained heat. But they were only able to get the reaction to last five seconds.
The biggest problems during the decades of scientific study of nuclear fusion has been the inability to control the reaction so that it sustains long enough to use for a power source.
CNN reported that the American discovery holds promise but is still a long way from generating electricity for the power grid.
“This result is miles away from actual energy gain required for the production of electricity. Therefore, we can say [it] is a success of the science but a long way from providing useful energy,” the University of Cambridge’s Tony Roulstone told the outlet.