US scientists expected to announce long-awaited nuclear fusion breakthrough – Saudi Gazette

US scientists expected to announce long-awaited nuclear fusion breakthrough – Saudi Gazette

WASHINGTON — The US Department of Energy is expected to announce Tuesday that scientists have for the first time successfully produced a nuclear fusion reaction resulting in a net energy gain, according to the Financial Times and The Washington Post.

The result of the experiment would be a massive step in a decades-long quest to unleash an infinite source of clean energy that could help end dependence on fossil fuels. Researchers have for decades attempted to recreate nuclear fusion – replicating the fusion that powers the sun.

Scientists at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California made the discovery, according to The Post. A giant donut-shaped machine just proved a near-limitless clean power source is possible

US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will make an announcement Tuesday on a “major scientific breakthrough,” the department announced Sunday.

The department declined to comment to CNN on Sunday about whether they had made the fusion breakthrough, which was first reported by the Financial Times.

Nuclear fusion happens when two or more atoms are fused into one larger one, a process that generates a massive amount of energy as heat.

Scientists across the globe have been inching toward the breakthrough; in February, UK scientists announced they