A “scientific breakthrough” in the development of fusion energy is expected tomorrow from the Biden administration. For more than half a century, people have poured billions of dollars into nuclear fusion research, hoping to create a source of abundant, clean energy.
The rough idea is this: if we develop technology that can replicate the way the sun generates energy in a controlled way, we could power the world with energy that’s free of greenhouse gas emissions and long-lived radioactive waste. But scientists have been unable to trigger a fusion reaction that results in a net energy gain. Turns out, it takes a lot of heat energy to force atomic nuclei to “fuse” together.