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COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – California scientists recently made what some are calling one of the most impressive scientific achievements of the 21st century.
The US Department of Energy recently announced that they have made a net energy gain after successfully using 192 giant lasers to ignite a nuclear fusion reaction.
The nuclear fusion industry is growing rapidly. According to the Fusion Industry Association’s annual report, investors have invested nearly $5 billion in fusion energy startups, more than half of last year.
Experts say a growing number of private companies investing in fusion energy are focused on contributing to the world’s low-carbon energy supply.
“It strengthens our national security because it opens a new area for maintaining a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent where nuclear testing does not occur,” US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said at a news conference.
The laser experiments took place at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and resulted in the world’s first controlled experiment to use laser energy to produce energy greater than fusion.
Kelly Humbard and Michael Zica are just two Texas A&M graduates among the many Aggies contributing to history while helping to create safe, clean energy.
“This is really the culmination of over 60 years of research to try to get fusion ignition going in a laboratory setting,” Humbard said.
‘It’s a little surreal,’ said Zika. “It is indeed a strange feeling that we are living at a moment in history that this achievement is being written about.”
While Texas A&M cannot take credit for the major success, there is no doubting the laboratory and the university’s contribution to the profession over the years.
“The Lawrence Livermore National Lab has had a number of conversations with Texas A&M,” Zika said. “And we benefit from them taking engineering, physics subjects as well as policy and deterrence theory and other training opportunities.”
Humbard says that achieving nuclear fusion is an achievement born of decades of hard work and collaboration not only by Lawrence Livermore but also by laboratories, universities and industry around the world.
“It’s really a great and inspiring demonstration of the things that can be achieved when people are determined, dedicated, and willing to collaborate on a multidisciplinary problem like this,” Humbard said.
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