Early December of 2022, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory created the first nuclear fusion reaction that generated a substantial net energy gain., It has turned many heads to the idea of nuclear fusion being a viable and better replacement for the burning of fossil fuels, and it could get the world closer to a zero emission environment. 

This breakthrough continues to pave the way for creating an energy source that is renewable and free from greenhouse gas emissions. To give insight about the physics behind nuclear fusion, Tualatin High School IB physics teacher Christopher Murray agreed to an interview with The Wolf:

How does nuclear fusion work?

 “Fusion is when you combine nuclei – like the nucleus of hydrogen and the nucleus of tritium (an isotope of hydrogen).”

How is nuclear fusion replicated in a controlled environment?

“The core of the sun has very high pressure, and very high temperatures, so fusion just naturally occurs there. Luck is also involved…On earth, fusion is more of a challenge. These scientists were using lasers to create super high temperatures. At high temperatures, the particles are going fast enough to fuse.

The difficulty with fusion is that nuclei are positively charged, so they repel each other.  You need the nuclei to be tightly packed and moving so fast toward each other that they can get close enough to fuse. At close distances another force takes over and binds them into a new nucleus, releasing tremendous amounts of energy.”

While the breakthrough with nuclear fusion is substantial, it will still take a long time for it to become a primary energy source. Factors that play a role in this delay are obstacles dealing not only with scientific breakthroughs, but also technological advances. It is expected to take decades for the reaction to become reliable and efficient enough to where it can be applied to scenarios such as powering facilities, electrical power plants and more.