New York: The US in December announced a breakthrough in clean energy for a warming globe through fusion technology that could transform the way the world is powered, imitating the process that makes the sun and stars shine. White House Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar called it “an engineering marvel beyond belief”.

“This is such a wonderful example of a possibility realised, a scientific milestone achieved, and a road ahead to the possibilities for clean energy,” she said at the announcement in Washington. Fusion technology is the process by which two or more smaller atoms are combined or fused into a bigger one and in nature, it is how the sun and stars are powered.

What makes the breakthrough achieved at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) of the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Laboratory (LLNL) a game-changer is that it produced more energy than it used for lasers to create fusion, unlike in current energy production methods that consume more power than they put out.

Scientists Robbie Scott with the Central Laser Facility (CLF) Plasma Physics Group who was involved in the research explained to Science Media said that it is “a bit like striking a match (and) with this experiment the match kept burning” and “fusion has the potential to provide a near-limitless, safe, clean, source of carbon-free baseload energy”.

The administration of President Joe Biden has promoted the breakthrough as a momentous step forward in its push for fighting climate change by reducing the use of fossil fuels that currently produce most of the energy. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said that it “will help us solve humanity’s most complex and pressing problems, like providing clean power to combat climate change”.

But, LLNL Director Kim Budil said that it would take a few decades of research to make power plants using the technology. It would not take 50 or 60 years, “but probably with concerted effort and investment, a few decades of research on the underlying technologies could put us in a position to build a power plant”, she said.