Fusion Power Output More Than Doubles in Historic Experiment

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) has achieved a significant breakthrough in fusion energy research, more than doubling the power output of its laser-powered fusion experiment.

The NIF team recently increased the experiment's yield to first 5.2 megajoules (MJ) and then to a remarkable 8.6 MJ. This surpasses the historic 2022 experiment, which generated 3.15 MJ, marking the first time a controlled fusion reaction produced more energy than the laser input (2.05 MJ).

What is Inertial Confinement Fusion?

The NIF uses inertial confinement fusion. This process involves coating fusion fuel in diamond and encasing it in a gold cylinder. 192 powerful lasers converge on the target within a vacuum chamber. The resulting X-rays compress the fuel pellet, causing the nuclei to fuse and release energy.

While these experiments require significant energy input (around 300 MJ for the laser system alone), they are not yet designed to feed electricity into the grid. These results demonstrate the increasing viability of controlled nuclear fusion as a future energy source.

Comparing Fusion Approaches

Inertial confinement differs from magnetic confinement, another fusion approach that uses powerful magnets to compress plasma. While magnetic confinement hasn't yet achieved net-positive energy gain, several projects are underway with that goal in mind.

Several startups are also exploring inertial confinement fusion, including Xcimer Energy and Focused Energy.

This latest breakthrough at NIF represents a major step towards realizing the potential of fusion as a clean and sustainable energy source.