Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough 

Christian Ferrandina

At 1″03 am, on December 5, scientists studying fusion energy at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory made the announcement that they have achieved a long awaited milestone regarding formulating and harnessing clean renewable energy.

Scientists have been trying to achieve this since the study began in 2009, and all their trials were deemed unsuccessful even after a 3.5 billion dollar investment from the United States government.

The experiment consisted of 192 lasers, which blasted 2.05 megajoules of energy being shot at a small cylinder encased in diamond with frozen hydrogen inside of it. As a result of the blast 3.00 megajoules of energy, which is more energy than a pound of TNT, was released, Ultimately having an energy net gain of 1.5. To put it simply, scientists ended up with more energy than they started with after the experiment.

This project’s main purpose is for scientists to find an emissions free source of power, reducing the need for the burning of fossil fuels and power plants that harm the environment and the atmosphere. So as a result scientists now have to figure out how to make nuclear fusion a wide spread source of power throughout the world, which scientist Kimberly S. Budil predicts to be possible in a few decades.