Scientists at the U.K.-based JET laboratory announced they have achieved “record-breaking” results on a landmark nuclear fusion experiment.
According to researchers at the Oxfordshire-based lab, the team successfully squeezed together two forms of hydrogen for a period of five seconds, allowing them to produce 59 megajoules, or 11 megawatts, of energy, more than double the record set in 1997.
While the energy output itself is nothing to write home about — it’s enough to boil roughly 60 kettles of water — scientists say it’s a major validation of their design choices in crafting a fusion reactor, a bigger version of which is currently being built in France, and puts scientists one step closer to creating what would be an abundant supply of low-carbon, low-radiation energy.
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“The record, and more importantly the things we’ve learned about fusion under these conditions and how it fully confirms our predictions, show that we are on the right path to a future world of fusion energy,” Tony Donne, the program manager at EUROfusion, told reporters on Wednesday.
Described by some as the “power plants of the future,” nuclear fusion relies on the process of forcing together hydrogen atoms using superheated forms of gas, or plasma, inside a magnetic field. It’s the opposite of fission, which currently powers nuclear plants worldwide.
And though most researchers contend that the commercialization of fusion-powered energy is years away, it’s considered a game-changer because it offers a carbon-free form of energy, generating only short-lived, minimal radioactive waste.
According to a statement from the JET project, fusion offers a “near-limitless green electricity source for the long term, using small amounts of fuel that can be sourced worldwide from inexpensive materials.”
“If we can maintain fusion for five seconds, we can do it for five minutes and then five hours as we scale up our operations in future machines,” Donne said.
The successful results of the JET demonstration were also a major validation of scientists’ reactor design, which is currently being replicated at a much larger scale for the ITER project in southern France.
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ITER is backed by some of the world’s most wealthy governments, including all EU member states, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, and China, among others. Those working on the construction of the ITER facility say it will likely be ready to conduct plasma experiments by 2025.
