Breakthrough nuclear fusion experiment could ‘revolutionise the world’ with clean energy
US scientists have carried out the first ever nuclear fusion experiment to achieve a net energy gain, paving the way for a “clean energy source that could revolutionise the world”.
During a landmark news briefing at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, officials revealed the successful fusion experiment had taken place last week.
As it happened: ‘Amazing’ scientific breakthrough could create limitless energy
It was the result of “60 years of global research, development, engineering, and experimentation”, which could eventually become the backbone of commercial electricity generation.
Such a result would supercharge the world’s shift to renewable energy, helping to fight climate change.
US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm said the breakthrough “will go down in the history books”.
“This is one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century,” she added.
How was the experiment carried out?
The experiment involved 192 high-powered laser beams being fired at a capsule containing the elements deuterium and tritium, heating it to a temperature of more than three million degrees centigrade – thus briefly simulating the conditions of a star.
Dr Marvin Adams said it had been carried out “hundreds of times before”, but had never successfully produced more energy than was consumed.
“For the first time, they designed this experiment so that the fusion fuel stayed hot enough, dense enough, and round enough for long enough that it ignited, and it produced more energy than the lasers had deposited,” he said.
“About two mega joules in, about three mega joules out – a gain of 1.5, the energy production took less time than it takes light to travel one inch.”
It was, as he quipped, “kind of fast”.
High-powered lasers were used, converging on a target ‘about the size of a peppercorn’
While the target was smaller than a pea, the lasers – part of the so-called NIF system – are powerful enough to deliver more energy than the whole power grid sustaining all of the US.
Chief engineer Jean-Michel Di Nicola said it was “the size of three football fields and delivers energy in excess of two million joules with a peak power of 500 trillion watts”.
“For a very short amount of time, a few billionths of a second, it exceeds the entire US power grid,” he said.
The NIF system features 192 lasers
How long before the process can create useable energy?
The question on everyone’s lips following the news briefing was how long it would take before the process can be utilised for creating energy that we can actually use.
Dr Kim Budil, director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, admitted it would take “probably decades”.
President Joe Biden has said he hopes a commercial fusion reactor will be in place within 10 years, and officials acknowledged that the private sector would have to play a big role in accelerating the shift from lab experiments to commercial electricity production.
Other nuclear fusion projects will also have a role to play – and the scientists in California cited the work of a team in Oxfordshire, who earlier this year used their JET machine to generate around 11 megawatts of energy.
That was far more than was generated in the NIF experiment, but – crucially – did not achieve net energy gain.
A significant scientific milestone – but lasers require huge power
As Dr Marv Adams was holding up the cylindrical target containing the “peppercorn-sized” pellet of fusion fuel, he confirmed they had achieved “ignition” of a fusion reaction.
He also revealed the scientists put about 2MJ of energy into their fusion reaction and got about 3MJ out.
That’s the evidence of the “energy gain” that this announcement is all about.
That’s the significant scientific milestone: proving a fusion reaction itself can generate more energy than you put into in.
But they had to use 300MJ of electricity to power up their lasers.
So from an energy production point of view, they’re still having to put in 99% more power into the machine as a whole as they are getting out.
University of Oxford Professor Gianluca Gregori, a specialist in the kind of lasers used at the lab, stressed that the amount of energy produced was smaller than that needed to power a wall plug.
“While this is not yet an economically viable power plant, the path for the future is much clearer,” he added.
Jeremy Chittenden, professor of plasma physics at Imperial College London, said scientists “will need to find a way to reproduce the same effect much more frequently and much more cheaply”.
If they do, it would be a huge shot in the arm for the world’s push towards renewables.
The COP29 climate talks have reached a last ditch deal on cash for developing countries, pulling the summit back from the brink of collapse after a group of countries stormed out of a negotiating room earlier.
The slew of deals finally signed off in the small hours of Sunday morning in Azerbaijan includes one that proved hardest of all – one about money.
Eventually the more than 190 countries in Baku agreed a target for richer polluting countries such as the UK, EU and Japan to drum up $300bn a year by 2035 to help poorer nations both curb and adapt to climate change.
It is a far cry from the $1.3trn experts say is needed, and from the $500bn that vulnerable countries like Uganda had said they would be willing to accept.
But in the end they were forced to, knowing they could not afford to live without it, nor wait until next year to try again, when a Donald Trump presidency would make things even harder.
Bolivia’s lead negotiator Diego Pacheco called it an “insult”, while the Marshall Islands’ Tina Stege said it was “not nearly enough, but it’s a start”.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said: “This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country.
“No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work still to do. So this is no time for victory laps.”
The funding deal was clinched more than 24 hours into overtime, and against what felt like all the odds.
The talks were rocked from the start by the incoming presidency of climate denier Mr Trump, the moment Argentina’s team were recalled back to Buenos Aires by their right-wing president and a controversial letter that sent shockwaves through the United Nations.
Pic: AP
The fraught two weeks of negotiations pitted the anger of developing countries who are footing the bill for more dangerous weather that they did little to cause, against the tight public finances of rich countries.
A relieved Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, climate envoy for Panama, said there is “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Just hours ago, the talks almost fell apart as furious vulnerable nations stormed out of negotiations in frustration over that elusive funding goal.
They were also angry with oil and gas producing countries, who stood accused of trying to dilute aspects of the deal on cutting fossil fuels.
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Climate-vulnerable nations storm out of talks
The UN talks work on consensus, meaning everyone has to agree for a deal to fly.
A row over how to follow up on last year’s pledge to “transition away from fossil fuels” was left unresolved and punted into next year, following objections from Chile and Switzerland for being too weak.
A draft deal simply “reaffirmed” the commitment but did not dial up the pressure in the way the UK, EU, island states and many others here wanted.
Saudi Arabia fought the hardest against any step forward on cutting fossil fuels, the primary cause of climate change that is intensifying floods, drought and fires around the world.
Governments did manage to strike a deal on carbon markets at COP29, which has been 10 years in the making and will allow countries to trade emissions cuts.
‘Not everything we wanted’
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The UK’s energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said the deal is “not everything we or others wanted”, but described it as a “step forward”.
“It’s a deal that will drive forward the clean energy transition, which is essential for jobs and growth in Britain and for protecting us all against the worsening climate crisis,” he added.
“Today’s agreement sends the signal that the clean energy transition is unstoppable.
“It is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century and through our championing of it we can help crowd in private investment.”
Protesters at the summit in Baku. Pic: AP
Read more:
Azerbaijan president hails oil and gas as ‘gift from God’
UN climate summits ‘no longer fit for purpose’
The Azerbaijan team leading COP29 said: “Every hour of the day, we have pulled people together. Every inch of the way, we have pushed for the highest common denominator.
“We have faced geopolitical headwinds and made every effort to be an honest broker for all sides.”
At least 20 people have been killed and 66 injured in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.
Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dig through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.
The attack destroyed an eight-storey residential building and badly damaged several others around it in the Basta neighbourhood at 4am (2am UK time) on Saturday.
The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut
The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack and has not commented on the casualties.
At least four bombs were dropped in the attack – the fourth targeting the city centre this week.
A separate drone strike in the southern port city of Tyre this morning killed two people and injured three, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The victims were Palestinian refugees from the nearby al Rashidieh camp who were out fishing, according to Mohammed Bikai, spokesperson for the Fatah Palestinian faction in the Tyre area.
Israel’s military warned residents today in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs that they were near Hezbollah facilities, which the army would target in the near future. The warning, posted on X, told people to evacuate at least 500 metres away.
The army said that over the past day it had conducted intelligence-based strikes on Hezbollah targets in Dahiyeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. It said it hit several command centres and weapons storage facilities.
Pic: AP
Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.
Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.
According to the Lebanese health ministry, at least 3,670 people have been killed in Israeli attacks there, with more than 15,400 wounded.
It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.
Read more:
No 10 indicates Netanyahu would be arrested
‘Dozens’ of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike
Meanwhile, six people, including three children and two women, were killed in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis.
Some 44,176 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage.
US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.
Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.
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