US scientists make huge breakthrough in fusion energy
The TelegraphDec 12, 2022
The US Department of Energy has announced that a "major scientific breakthrough" has been made in the federal Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, with additional details to be provided Tuesday.
It's thought that scientists have recently achieved an elusive "net energy gain" in a fusion reaction, according to a Financial Times report citing three individuals privy to the experiment.
The news is a breakthrough in the search for clean energy and a true milestone in the journey to move economies away from carbon-producing fossil fuels. With bipartisan support in Washington, we are one step closer to reaching the "holy grail" of energy production.
At least for now, nuclear fusion will likely not solve climate change. With efficient, reliable fusion reactors, we could conceivably meet the world's energy demands. However, we are far away from this being a reality because it is challenging to scale and implement this technology on a widespread level. To keep global warming down, we must cut carbon emissions right now — this development may play a role later this century.
There's a 50% chance that nuclear fusion will provide at most 10% of the world's primary energy by September 2060, according to the Metaculus prediction community.