Nuclear fusion reached a new milestone, generating more energy than ever before during an experiment conducted at the Joint European Torus (JET) laboratory in the U.K.
The JET facility, an experimental fusion reactor, has been at the forefront of fusion research for over four decades, BBC noted.
The UK Minister for Nuclear Andrew Bowie lauded the accomplishment as a “fitting swansong” for the JET project.
While nuclear fusion holds the promise of abundant clean energy without carbon emissions, challenges remain. Dr. Aneeqa Khan, Research Fellow in Nuclear Fusion at the University of Manchester, emphasized the need for extremely high temperatures, ten times hotter than the Sun, and specific conditions for atoms to fuse on Earth.
The experiments at JET produced 69 megajoules of energy over five seconds, a significant achievement but still a long way from practical applications.
The JET facility, funded predominantly by the EU nuclear ...