UPSC Articles
SCIENCE & TECH
- GS-3: Basic in Science; Security Challenges
Nuclear fusion and the recent breakthrough
In news: Recently, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California announced that an experiment carried out in its National Ignition Facility has made a breakthrough in nuclear fusion research.
- In the experiment, lasers were used to heat a small target or fuel pellets.
- These pellets containing deuterium and tritium fused and produced more energy.
- The team noted that they were able to achieve a yield of more than 1.3 megajoules.
What exactly is nuclear fusion?
- Nuclear fusion is defined as the combining of several small nuclei into one large nucleus with the subsequent release of huge amounts of energy.
- Nuclear fusion powers our sun and harnessing this fusion energy could provide an unlimited amount of renewable energy.
- It has many advantages, such as inexhaustibility of resources, no long-lived radioactive wastes, and almost no CO2 emissions.
How was the new breakthrough achieved?
- The team used new diagnostics, improved laser precision, and even made changes to the design.
- They applied laser energy on fuel pellets to heat and pressurise them at conditions similar to that at the centre of our Sun. This triggered the fusion reactions
- These reactions released positively charged particles called alpha particles, which in turn heated the surrounding plasma.
- At high temperatures, electrons are ripped from atom’s nuclei and become a plasma or an ionised state of matter. Plasma is also known as the fourth state of matter
- The heated plasma also released alpha particles and a self-sustaining reaction called ignition took place.
- Ignition helps amplify the energy output from the nuclear fusion reaction and this could help provide clean energy for the future.
- The team noted an energy output of more than 1.3 megajoules
What is the significance of the experiment?
- This is a major breakthrough as the output is higher than the previous highest energy achieved.
- Previously, laser fusion programmes faced several difficulties as scientists were not able to completely understand the plasma.
- Reproducing the conditions at the centre of the Sun (using fusion reaction) will allow humans to study states of matter including those found in stars and supernovae.
- Scientists could also gain insights into quantum states of matter and even conditions closer and closer to the beginning of the Big Bang – the hotter we get, the closer we get to the very first state of the Universe
Connecting the dots:
- India’s Nuclear Doctrine
- Progress of Indo-US Nuclear Deal
