Scientists Claim Nuclear Fusion Can Replace Conventional Energy

In 2022, scientists with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) announced that for the first time, a nuclear fusion core produced more energy than it consumed.

The ignition facility uses laser beams to confine a plasma of deuterium and tritium, two isotopes, or versions, of hydrogen. But experts say a viable commercial fusion reactor is likely decades away. That's because to heat the plasma, scientist must draw energy from the electrical grid.

So, to make the reaction viable, the energy produced by the reaction must also account for the sizable amount of energy lost as electricity is converted to the light that powers the lasers.