Brian Spears, deputy model lead for inertial confinement fusion at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, discusses the lab’s recent success with creating a nuclear fusion reaction.
On Dec. 13, the Department of Energy announced that the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory generated a fusion reaction that gave off more energy than was needed to create it. It’s a breakthrough that researchers around the world have been trying to achieve for decades.
- Nuclear fusion can help researchers understand the conditions in the nuclear stockpile, study giant planets and suns and to potentially produce fusion energy, Brian Spears, deputy model lead for inertial confinement fusion at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, explained.
- He stated that fusion power is “not immediate” but could occur within his lifetime.
- One of the challenges with nuclear fusion energy, according to Spears, is getting to a place where it is economically viable.
SEE ALSO | How ARPA-E funds high-risk, high-reward energy projects
