WC Wisconsin News

When it comes to the world of fusion ignition, Wisconsin state Sen. Chris Larson is excited by the possibilities.

“Are we close to harnessing the power of the sun for unlimited clean energy? If a recent breakthrough by researchers in CA is any indication, the answer is ‘yes,’" Larson recently tweeted. “Scientists were able to realize a net energy gain from a lab-created fusion reaction for the first time.”

Indeed, U.S. Department of Energy officials announced earlier this month that fusion energy researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have accomplished nuclear fusion, highlighting the accomplishments as a huge scientific breakthrough that come after years of research and could spark even more advancements in national defense and clean energy.

According to CNBC, nuclear fusion releases a large amount of energy by combining two light nuclei into a heavier one. For roughly the last eight decades, scientists have been working to replicate the sun's fusion energy production on earth. The fusion experiment must have generated more energy from the reaction than the laser energy used to drive it in order to accomplish ignition.  In the experiment that took place on December 5, this ultimately occurred, with the reaction reportedly requiring two megajoules and producing in the neighborhood of three megajoules.

Even with the number of breakthroughs on the rise and the hope that fusion power plants will someday come to mean clean and abundant energy, CNBC warns such technological advancement likely remain years away.

"You have to have a robust system of drivers to enable that,” said director of the Lawrence Livermore Lab, Kim Budil. “So, you know, probably decades. Not six decades, I don’t think. Not five decades, which is what we used to say. I think it’s moving into the foreground and probably, with concerted effort and investment, a few decades of research on the underlying technologies could put us in a position to build a power plant."