The target chamber of the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where scientists shoot lasers that collide on a fuel source|j-fi|CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The Department of Energy (DOE) proudly announced Tuesday that its federal fusion reactor has achieved ‘fusion ignition’ for the first time in human history in a lab-controlled setting.

Meaning
In a first-of-its-kind feat, the energy produced from a fusion reaction was more than the energy used to achieve it. This “will pave the way for advancements in national defense and the future of clean power,” the DOE said in its press release.

Fusion ignition
For more than 60 years, the scientific community has been working to replicate the sun’s nuclear fusion reaction here on Earth. On December 5, this became a reality for the team at the federal-run National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California.

Future of fusion
According to scientists and experts, it would take a few more decades before nuclear fusion becomes commercially viable.

Currently, the US has more than 90 nuclear fission power reactors that produce energy, which is converted to electricity.

Fission or Fusion
Nuclear fission produces radioactive waste and carbon as by-products of energy, whereas nuclear fusion produces limitless and clean energy that will help the US reach a net-zero carbon economy. Due to this reason, private investors have put almost $5 billion into nuclear fusion startups in the past few years.