The news coming out the other day is that the National Ignition Facility of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, USA, has achieved a profitable energy yield (net energy gain) through nuclear fusion. This development has many beneficial effects not only for the global energy sector but also for the environment.
Currently, nuclear energy is used all over the world. Many countries including India have nuclear power plants. A share of energy production comes from them. But the process of nuclear fission is used in all these reactors. Nuclear fission is the process by which the nucleus of a large element breaks apart to create other elements and release energy.
But nuclear fusion is the process of combining two elements to form a new element and releasing energy as part of the process. Although research has been going on for a long time, reactors using this have not yet been put into practice. Nuclear fusion is the most environmentally friendly energy source. The fusion process produces no carbon dioxide or other environmentally harmful radiation.
Global warming will be minimal during the fusion process as there are no greenhouse gas emissions. Fuels such as hydrogen and lithium used in fusion are also readily available on Earth. But the fission products remain radioactive for a long time. Fusion does not have this problem. Safety requires that certain processes continue even when nuclear fission reactors are not operating. But this is not required in fusion reactors. Nuclear fusion opens a door to unlimited clean energy, and scientists hope that the breakthrough at the National Ignition Facility will be a significant step forward.
English Summary: Nuclear fusion: Has there been a breakthrough and what will it mean?