Can nuclear fusion save the world?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 22 December 2022
⏱️ 22 minutes
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Summary
After decades of attempts, scientists have finally created a nuclear fusion reaction in a lab. On today’s show, what this breakthrough means for the future of energy.
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Last week, the Energy Department announced that for the first time, scientists have been able to produce a fusion reaction that creates a net energy gain. This essentially means that in a lab-based setting, researchers were able to replicate the nuclear reaction by which energy is created within the sun. It’s a major milestone in a decades-long, multibillion-dollar quest to develop a technology that could provide unlimited cheap, clean power.
While nuclear fusion is still at least a decade – and maybe many decades – away from commercial use, officials from the scientific community and the government are looking at this moment as one of deep promise, in the hopes of developing carbon-free power. Innovation reporter Pranshu Verma unpacks how nuclear fusion works and what this could mean for the future of the planet.
Transcript
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| 0:33.2 | For a long time, nuclear fusion only exists in the movies, like this moment from Spider-Man |
| 0:39.2 | 2. |
| 0:40.2 | We have a successful fusion reaction. |
| 0:45.9 | The power of the sun in the palm of my hand. |
| 0:51.6 | But now, nuclear fusion is a real thing. |
| 0:57.7 | Last week, there was a holy grail moment for the scientific field of nuclear fusion. |
| 1:05.2 | That is Pranju Verma. |
| 1:06.2 | He is an innovations reporter at the post. |
| 1:08.6 | And he's been following this huge development in the science world. |
| 1:12.2 | Today, we're here to talk about fusion, combining two particles into one. |
| 1:20.0 | Last week, energy secretary Jennifer Granholm announced that scientists finally produced |
| 1:24.7 | a nuclear fusion reaction. |
| 1:26.8 | It's the first time it has ever been done in a laboratory. |
| 1:32.5 | Anywhere in the world. |
| 1:35.6 | Simply put, this is one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century. |
| 1:45.4 | Nuclear fusion is basically how the sun creates energy, and scientists want to replicate |
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