Nuclear scientists hail US fusion breakthrough

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In news- Recently, the nuclear scientists using lasers the size of three football fields said they had generated a huge amount of energy from fusion, possibly offering hope for the development of a new clean energy source.

Nuclear Fusion & Current breakthrough-

• Nuclear Fusion reactions power the Sun and other stars.  
• It is a nuclear reaction in which atomic nuclei of low atomic number fuse to form a heavier nucleus with the release of energy.
• Nuclear Fusion is considered by some scientists to be a potential energy of the future, particularly because it produces little waste and no greenhouse gases.
• It differs from fission, a technique currently used in nuclear power plants, where the bonds of heavy atomic nuclei are broken to release energy.
• In the fusion process, two light atomic nuclei are “fused” to create a heavy one. 

• In this experiment scientists used two isotopes of hydrogen, giving rise to helium.
• Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California appeared to have demonstrated “fusion ignition” for the first time roughly equivalent to striking a match that leads to a sustained fusion reaction of the kind seen at the centre of the sun.
• Scientists focused their giant array of almost 200 laser beams onto a tiny spot to create a mega blast of energy eight times more than they had ever done in the past.
• This is the process that is at work in stars, including the Sun.
• This is the most significant advance in inertial fusion since its beginning in 1972.
• Turning this concept into a renewable source of electrical power will probably be a long process and will involve overcoming significant technical challenges.

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