According to a number of foreign media reports on August 6, following December last year, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under the U.S. Department of Energy have recently successfully reproduced the "nuclear fusion ignition" breakthrough, the second time in controlled nuclear fusion. A "net energy gain" was achieved in the experiment.
A spokesperson for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory told the media that scientists at the laboratory successfully reproduced the "nuclear fusion ignition" breakthrough in an experiment conducted at the "National Ignition Experiment Facility" on July 30 this year, and Compared to last December's experiment, a higher "net energy gain" was achieved.
Nuclear fusion is the source of energy for the sun and stars. Under the immense heat and gravity of the cores of these stars, hydrogen nuclei collide with each other, coalescing into heavier helium atoms, releasing enormous amounts of energy in the process. Nuclear fusion does not produce radioactive waste. Controllable nuclear fusion technology is expected to provide humans with nearly unlimited clean energy and help humans get rid of dependence on fossil fuels.
The U.S. Department of Energy issued a statement last December saying that U.S. researchers conducted the first controlled nuclear fusion experiment in history at the National Ignition Experimental Facility of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on the 5th of that month. In the experiment, the "National Ignition Experimental Facility" input 2.05 megajoules of energy to the target, resulting in a fusion energy output of 3.15 megajoules, demonstrating for the first time the most basic scientific principle of inertial confinement nuclear fusion.
Inertial confinement fusion uses laser shock waves to bring fuel spheres, usually containing deuterium and tritium, to extremely high temperatures and pressures to initiate nuclear fusion reactions. In addition to inertial confinement fusion, another mainstream solution to realize controllable nuclear fusion is magnetic confinement fusion, which uses a special form of magnetic field to confine ultra-high temperature plasma in a limited volume, so that nuclear fusion reactions can occur under control .
According to reports, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory conducted a series of repeated experiments this spring and summer, but they failed to achieve "nuclear fusion ignition", that is, the energy output of the experiment did not exceed the input energy. An experiment conducted in June this year reached an energy "break-even". At present, scientists are still analyzing the results of the latest experiment on July 30, which are expected to be officially released at academic conferences or academic journals.
(Original title "American Scientists Reproduce "Nuclear Fusion Ignition" Breakthrough")
