Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Wall Street Hits Over One-Week Low on Tariff Uncertainty, Data in Focus

6 hours ago

US Judge Blocks Trump Administration’s Use of Troops in Los Angeles

6 hours ago

Garnet Fire in Fresno County Grows to 26,982 Acres, 12% Contained

6 hours ago

US Construction Spending Dips in July

6 hours ago

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Signs Law Redrawing Congressional Maps

4 days ago

US Air Force will Offer Military Funeral Honors to Slain Capitol Rioter

4 days ago

US Republican Senator Joni Ernst Will Not Run for Re-Election, CBS News Reports

4 days ago

Minneapolis Children Revealed Courage, Absorbed Fear During Church Shooting

5 days ago
EXPLAINER: Why Fusion Could Be a Clean-Energy Breakthrough
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 3 years ago on
December 13, 2022

Share

The Department of Energy planned an announcement Tuesday on a “major scientific breakthrough” at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, one of several sites worldwide where researchers have been trying to develop the possibility of harnessing energy from nuclear fusion.

It’s a technology that has the potential to one day accelerate the planet’s shift away from fossil fuels, which are the major contributors to climate change. The technology has long struggled with daunting challenges.

Here’s a look at exactly what nuclear fusion is, and some of the difficulties in turning it into the cheap and carbon-free energy source that scientists believe it can be.

What Is Nuclear Fusion?

Look up, and it’s happening right above you — nuclear fusion reactions power the sun and other stars.

The reaction happens when two light nuclei merge to form a single heavier nucleus. Because the total mass of that single nucleus is less than the mass of the two original nuclei, the leftover mass is energy that is released in the process, according to the Department of Energy.

In the case of the sun, its intense heat — millions of degrees Celsius — and the pressure exerted by its gravity allow atoms that would otherwise repel each other to fuse.

Scientists have long understood how nuclear fusion has worked and have been trying to duplicate the process on Earth as far back as the 1930s. Current efforts focus on fusing a pair of hydrogen isotopes — deuterium and tritium — according to the Department of Energy, which says that particular combination releases “much more energy than most fusion reactions” and requires less heat to do so.

How Valuable Would This Be?

Daniel Kammen, a professor of energy and society at the University of California at Berkeley, said nuclear fusion offers the possibility of “basically unlimited” fuel if the technology can be made commercially viable. The elements needed are available in seawater.

It’s also a process that doesn’t produce the radioactive waste of nuclear fission, Kammen said.

How Are Scientists Trying to Do This?

One way scientists have tried to recreate nuclear fusion involves what’s called a tokamak — a doughnut-shaped vacuum chamber that uses powerful magnets to turn fuel into a superheated plasma (between 150 million and 300 million degrees Celsius) where fusion may occur.

The Livermore lab uses a different technique, with researchers firing a 192-beam laser at a small capsule filled with deuterium-tritium fuel. The lab reported that an August 2021 test produced 1.35 megajoules of fusion energy — about 70% of the energy fired at the target. The lab said several subsequent experiments showed declining results, but researchers believed they had identified ways to improve the quality of the fuel capsule and the lasers’ symmetry.

“The most critical feature of moving fusion from theory to commercial reality is getting more energy out than in,” Kammen said.

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

US Congress Returns, With One Month to Avert Government Shutdown

DON'T MISS

Trump Says His Administration Will Ask Supreme Court for Expedited Ruling on Tariffs

DON'T MISS

Trump Says He’s Committed to Sending National Guard Troops to Chicago

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest Teen After Traffic Stop Leads to Foot Chase, Firearm Recovery

DON'T MISS

Trump Dismisses Rumors He Is in Ill Health, Calls Them ‘Fake’

DON'T MISS

US Appeals Court Allows Trump’s EPA to Nix Climate Grants

DON'T MISS

Rubio Says US Military Conducted Lethal Strike Against Drug Vessel From Venezuela

DON'T MISS

Trump Says He Is ‘Very Disappointed’ With Putin Over Ukraine

DON'T MISS

Letter to the Editor: CSU Chancellor’s Silence on Joe Castro’s Passing ‘Is Appalling’

DON'T MISS

Disney to Pay $10 Million to Settle US Claim of Allowing Unlawful Collection of Children’s Data

UP NEXT

Trump Says His Administration Will Ask Supreme Court for Expedited Ruling on Tariffs

UP NEXT

Trump Says He’s Committed to Sending National Guard Troops to Chicago

UP NEXT

Trump Dismisses Rumors He Is in Ill Health, Calls Them ‘Fake’

UP NEXT

US Appeals Court Allows Trump’s EPA to Nix Climate Grants

UP NEXT

Trump Says He Is ‘Very Disappointed’ With Putin Over Ukraine

UP NEXT

Trump Moves Space Command Headquarters to Alabama From Colorado

UP NEXT

Wall Street Hits Over One-Week Low on Tariff Uncertainty, Data in Focus

UP NEXT

Trump Set to Move Space Command Headquarters to Alabama From Colorado, Sources Say

UP NEXT

Trump Says Rudy Giuliani Will Receive Top US Civilian Honor

UP NEXT

US Judge Blocks Deportations of Unaccompanied Migrant Children to Guatemala

Fresno Police Arrest Teen After Traffic Stop Leads to Foot Chase, Firearm Recovery

40 minutes ago

Trump Dismisses Rumors He Is in Ill Health, Calls Them ‘Fake’

44 minutes ago

US Appeals Court Allows Trump’s EPA to Nix Climate Grants

1 hour ago

Rubio Says US Military Conducted Lethal Strike Against Drug Vessel From Venezuela

1 hour ago

Trump Says He Is ‘Very Disappointed’ With Putin Over Ukraine

1 hour ago

Letter to the Editor: CSU Chancellor’s Silence on Joe Castro’s Passing ‘Is Appalling’

1 hour ago

Disney to Pay $10 Million to Settle US Claim of Allowing Unlawful Collection of Children’s Data

2 hours ago

Trump Moves Space Command Headquarters to Alabama From Colorado

2 hours ago

Fresno County Wildfire Burns Near Coalinga, CalFire Reports

2 hours ago

What Could Nikki Henry’s $162,000 Buy for Fresno Unified? Let’s Ask AI

2 hours ago

US Congress Returns, With One Month to Avert Government Shutdown

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Congress returns on Tuesday with less than a month left to perform one of its core functions – keeping federal a...

10 minutes ago

The U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., as the death toll from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic exceeds 100,000 victims, May 27, 2020. (Reuters File)
10 minutes ago

US Congress Returns, With One Month to Avert Government Shutdown

President Donald Trump leaves, following a cabinet meeting, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 26, 2025. (Reuters File)
34 minutes ago

Trump Says His Administration Will Ask Supreme Court for Expedited Ruling on Tariffs

A subway train travels on an elevated track above the Wells Street bridge in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., August 25, 2025. (Reuters File)
36 minutes ago

Trump Says He’s Committed to Sending National Guard Troops to Chicago

A 17-year-old on probation was arrested in southwest Fresno after fleeing a traffic stop and discarding a loaded firearm, police said on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (Fresno PD)
40 minutes ago

Fresno Police Arrest Teen After Traffic Stop Leads to Foot Chase, Firearm Recovery

President Donald Trump gestures during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 26, 2025. (Reuters File)
44 minutes ago

Trump Dismisses Rumors He Is in Ill Health, Calls Them ‘Fake’

Signage at the headquarters of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 18, 2025. (Reuters File)
1 hour ago

US Appeals Court Allows Trump’s EPA to Nix Climate Grants

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends an event at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 16, 2025. (Reuters File)
1 hour ago

Rubio Says US Military Conducted Lethal Strike Against Drug Vessel From Venezuela

President Donald Trump attends an event in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 2, 2025. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)
1 hour ago

Trump Says He Is ‘Very Disappointed’ With Putin Over Ukraine

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend