RELATED: How Livermore scientists produced fusion breakthrough by recreating the power of the sunThe nuclear fusion reaction must be repeated, extended and scaled before the comparison sticks. “We’ve learned a lot through those experiments,” Lawrence Livermore Director Kimberly Budil said during a celebration of December’s ignition. In 2021, scientists working near Oxford used the magnet method to generate a record-breaking amount of sustained energy for five seconds. Even before December’s successful shot, private investment in fusion technology tripled in 2021, with dozens of startups trying to tackle fusion’s infinite challenges in novel ways. But this the first-of-its-kind fusion power purchase agreement is a modest one, accounting for just around 0.04% of the clean power Microsoft bought in 2022.

Source: CNN May 12, 2023 13:27 UTC