Major breakthrough for fusion energy technology

I recently met with Dr Alex Pearce the modelling lead in the UKAEA Power Plant Technology Group. He talked us through the science behind fusion energy (fusing particles together to generate energy instead of pulling them apart (which is how nuclear energy is generated), its potential to power our homes and businesses in the future, its benefits over nuclear energy and also the current pitfalls with this developing technology. You can listen to the resulting podcast here. 

Alex explained that a major limitation had been that the process of fusing particles together is so energy intensive that no one had managed to produce more energy than it took to create the reaction. However, as reported by BBC news, this week US scientists have had a breakthrough in this field, having produced more energy from a fusion experiment than was put in.

Whilst the technology is still a long way from powering our grid (Dr Pearce describes it as “a technology for the second half of this century”), this is an exciting development towards a potential new source of cleaner energy.

On Tuesday researchers confirmed they have overcome a major barrier - producing more energy from a fusion experiment than was put in.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-63950962
Subcribe to news and views