SCI FI TECH
Recent nuclear fusion breakthrough an exciting development for energy future

Barbara Banaian, Times Writers Group
Sun, February 5, 2023 

There was recently a breakthrough in nuclear fusion. In December, 2022, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory produced a nuclear fusion reaction with a net energy gain.

Scientists have been trying to harness this for years; the old joke was nuclear fusion is 20 years away and always will be. The difficulty has always been in getting a net positive energy gain — or output. But if we can master fusion, we will have an almost unlimited source of energy.

What recently transpired was not the first time for a fusion reaction, but it was the first time that more energy was created than was put in.

What is fusion? Well, we have all heard of splitting the atom. This would be fission — the act of splitting into pieces. Fusion, meanwhile, is the opposite: a melting together, or fusing atoms in a controlled way. Both processes can produce energy. In the recent experiment, 192 laser beams struck the inner wall of a capsule. This happened before the fusion reaction occurred. The fusion stayed hot enough to ignite, and it produced more energy than the lasers had brought to it.

There’s a lot to hope for that the clock really has started on those 20 years. Accidents like Chernobyl in 1986 or Fukushima in 2011 do not happen under the conditions that produce fusion energy. While fusion produces waste it is of a low level and, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, does not pose a serious danger.

And then there is climate change. Nuclear energy produces less greenhouse emissions than even solar or wind, according to Our World in Data. The issue has always been how to deal with the waste of fission reactions (the accidents are quite serious but also quite rare.) Solve the waste issue and nuclear energy — already 10 percent of energy production globally — can reduce use of coal and oil.

Fusion could bring enough energy to fuel the planet. And when we fuse atoms together, it will bring almost 4 million times more energy than coal, oil, gas — and 4 times as much as nuclear fission.

And if we can make it smaller someday, it will take less energy to fire it. Consider how big the first computer was — and how small they are today. Everything contained on the massive mainframes of the 1950s can now be contained in a smartphone.

What will lead to that future is the drive to make it profitable.

One day we will run out of petroleum even as demand for it increases. Saudi Arabia knows it is using a depletable resource and has started producing luxury electric cars.

The Ukraine war has made new energy technologies a greater imperative in Europe. Germany is expanding a giant coal mine. As a consequence of relying too heavily on Russian gas, Germany is planning to destroy a town, Luetzerath, to expand their open pit mine. Activists are trying to protect the village, but police are removing hundreds of protestors.

They don’t have 20 years to wait, but we have already seen big changes in Germany to manage their energy needs and energy production. Maybe things can go faster.

From power plants to spacecraft, someday our energy may come from this source. It may be expensive at first, but gradually less expensive. It's a new frontier with exciting implications!

This is the opinion of Times Writers Group member Barbara Banaian, a professional pianist who lives in the St. Cloud area. Her column is published the first Sunday of the month.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Recent nuclear fusion breakthrough an exciting development