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  • NEWS EXPLAINER

Nuclear-fusion lab achieves ‘ignition’: what does it mean?

Researchers at the US National Ignition Facility created a reaction that made more energy than they put in.
  1. Jeff Tollefson
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  2. Elizabeth Gibney
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NIF Target Area operators in PPE on a lift, inspect a final optics assembly (FOA) during a routine maintenance period.

The US National Ignition Facility has reported that it has achieved the phenomenon of ignition. Credit: Jason Laurea/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Scientists at the world’s largest nuclear-fusion facility have for the first time achieved the phenomenon known as ignition — creating a nuclear reaction that generates more energy than it consumes. News of the breakthrough at the US National Ignition Facility (NIF), made on 5 December and announced today by US President Joe Biden’s administration, has excited the global fusion-research community. That research aims to harness nuclear fusion — the phenomenon that powers the Sun — to provide a source of near-limitless clean energy on Earth. Researchers caution that, despite this latest success, a long path remains to achieving that goal.

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Nature 612, 597-598 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04440-7

Additional reporting by Nisha Gaind

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