Nuclear fusion and the recent breakthrough

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