Nuclear fusion is rather different from nuclear fission. Fission, is the reaction currently used in nuclear power plants, and produces dangerously radioactive elements; fusion is the currently being researched by various laboratories around the world, and produces no radioactive waste and far more energy.

For years nuclear fusion has eluded scientists, yet very recently the researchers at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in the US have managed to pass a milestone that brings fully sustainable nuclear fusion closer realisation.

The NIF, at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, uses 192 beams of the world’s most powerful lasers to deliver a pulse of energy 1000 times the capacity of the entire generating capacity of all power plants in the US combined. The pulse hits a tiny capsule of hydrogen which is then instantly compressed and heated up, creating a small nuclear fusion reaction.

The BBC reports that in September the amount of energy released from the fusion reaction at the NIF was recorded as higher than the energy that was absorbed by the hydrogen fuel pellet. The first time that this has been achieved anywhere in the world.

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