For decades, scientists have been trying to create a fusion reactor that can produce more energy than it takes in. If successful, fusion power plants could help solve the impending energy crisis and slow down climate change.
The most recent experiment in the Joint European Torus (JET) Reactor has demonstrated a promising future of delivering sustainable low-carbon fusion energy worldwide. The JET is said to have produced a record-breaking 59 megajoules of sustained fusion energy over a five-second period. This previous record set by JET in 1997 was only 22 megajoules of heat energy. The recent achievement is a "huge step closer to conquering" one of the biggest challenges in science and engineering, says UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) CEO Ian Chapman. Meanwhile, EUROfusion Programme Manager Tony Donné says that this experiment shows that they were on the right path. To him, if they were able to do it for five seconds, then they could do it for a much longer period of time.
(Video Credit: Culham Centre for Fusion Energy/ UK Atomic Energy Authority)
#Energy #Engineering #Science #NuclearFusion #JointEuropeanTorus