{"id":51593,"date":"2022-12-13T16:46:18","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T16:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/?p=51593"},"modified":"2022-12-13T22:28:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T22:28:00","slug":"us-nuclear-fusion-breakthrough-could-eliminate-need-for-fossil-fuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/us-nuclear-fusion-breakthrough-could-eliminate-need-for-fossil-fuels\/","title":{"rendered":"US nuclear fusion breakthrough could eliminate need for fossil fuels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>US scientists have announced <strong>today<\/strong><\/strong> <strong>their breakthrough in nuclear fusion, which could replace the need for fossil fuels.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The experiment took place at the <a href=\"https:\/\/wci.llnl.gov\/facilities\/nif\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory<\/a> (LLNL) in California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scientists have tried to duplicate this nuclear fusion on earth since as early as the 1930s, making today\u2019s breakthrough even more historic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In simple terms, nuclear fusion is a process where hydrogen atoms are forced together so hard that they produce helium and release a huge amount of energy and heat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This process <a href=\"https:\/\/www.itv.com\/news\/2022-12-13\/what-is-nuclear-fusion-energy-and-what-could-it-mean-for-future-power-supplies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">does not release any carbon dioxide<\/a> into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"What is nuclear fusion?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TQi6SSSNEkI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It is hoped that this method could one day produce an unlimited supply of energy that is not as damaging to the environment as the use of fossil fuels. Although, so far, the amount of energy produced is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/science-environment-63950962\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">only enough to make a few cups of tea.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/ENERGY\/status\/1602679966163906561?s=20&#038;t=KcRGKgxe3ILwDrUiWMBE3A\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Some are doubtful that the findings will revolutionise energy production, at least not for a few decades. There are questions as to whether the experiment can be repeated effectively on a larger scale and just how much energy can be produced each time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Only time will tell if nuclear fusion is our next source of clean energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/KHayhoe\/status\/1602400066530156544?s=20&#038;t=qVgsypedNmPgDbLsCN1ypw\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/IBJIYONGI\/status\/1602134503706828801?s=20&#038;t=qVgsypedNmPgDbLsCN1ypw\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Words: Yana Trup | Video: Yana Trup | Subbing: Nadya Salie <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US scientists have announced today their breakthrough in nuclear fusion, which could replace the need for fossil fuels. The experiment took place at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":51595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,93,128],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-change","category-news","category-top-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51593"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51642,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51593\/revisions\/51642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}