New Energy
US Hails Fusion Breakthrough as Energy Dream Takes Shape
- Fusion technology melds together atoms for carbon-free power
- Commercial viability will likely take decades, experts say
A technician checks inside the preamplifier support structure at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California.
Photographer: Damien Jemison/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory/APThis article is for subscribers only.
After more than 50 years of false starts, nuclear fusion is finally taking a resolute step closer to becoming the world’s newest energy source.
The US Department of Energy said Tuesday that scientists at a laboratory in California managed for the first time to generate more energy from a fusion reaction than they needed to trigger it. The milestone raises the prospect that some day — perhaps decades from now — the global economy will be run on carbon-free electricity generated by the very process that powers the sun.