US Scientists Repeat Breakthrough in Fusion Ignition at National Laboratory

A laboratory in the United States, which achieved a historic net energy gain in a fusion reaction last year, has replicated this scientific breakthrough, marking a major step toward advancing clean energy.

A scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in an undated photo. National Ignition Facility

A laboratory in the United States that achieved a historic net energy gain in a fusion reaction last year has replicated this scientific breakthrough, marking a major step toward advancing clean energy.

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said it repeated the fusion ignition in an experiment at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) on July 30. The Financial Times first reported the news.

A Lawrence Livermore spokesperson said the experiment results are still under analysis.

“In an experiment conducted on July 30, we repeated ignition at NIF. Analysis of those results is underway, but we can confirm the experiment produced a higher yield than the December test,” the spokesperson said.

“As is our standard practice, we plan on reporting those results at upcoming scientific conferences and in peer-reviewed publications,” it added.

Lawrence Livermore achieved a net energy gain in a fusion experiment using lasers on Dec. 5, 2022. The scientists focused a laser on a target of fuel to fuse two light atoms into a denser one, releasing the energy.

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 does not create radioactive waste.

Fusion Holds Promise for Future

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said last year that the breakthrough would pave the way for advancements in national defense and the future of clean power, which could be a “game-changer” for efforts to achieve the Biden administration’s goal of a net-zero carbon economy.

“It’s the first time it has ever been done in a laboratory anywhere in the world—simply put, this is one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century,” DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm said.

In the first breakthrough, scientists produced 3.15 megajoules of fusion energy output using 2.05 megajoules of laser energy delivered to the target. The results were peer-reviewed and verified by outside parties.

Kim Budil, director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said there are “significant hurdles” and engineering challenges to solve before fusion energy can be commercialized, such as the ability to reproduce ignition many times per minute and make fusion reactions simpler.

“I think it’s moving into the foreground and, probably with concerted effort and investment, a few decades of research on the underlying technologies could put us in a position to build a power plant,” Ms. Budil said in a statement.

Billions of dollars and decades of work have gone into fusion research.

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.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.