Fusion energy at a crossroads

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced to much fanfare earlier this month that scientists have reached a major milestone in fusion energy research. After decades of research and billions of taxpayer dollars, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory National Ignition Facility successfully produced a fusion reaction that yielded more energy than was used to initiate the reaction.

To do this, the Livermore scientists aimed 192 lasers at a hydrogen fuel pellet about half the size of a peppercorn to produce 3.15 megajoules of energy using only 2.05 megajoules. That’s a 50% increase.