Fusion result from National Ignition Facility: U-M experts available to comment

Media reports suggest that the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has achieved fusion ignition, with the energy produced by a fusion experiment exceeding the amount of energy in the laser light used to compress the fuel capsule. This finding is expected to be officially announced tomorrow, Dec. Fusion is the process that powers the sun. Two hydrogen atoms combine to form helium, releasing energy. Experiments at the National Ignition Facility typically use deuterium and tritium, "heavy” forms of hydrogen that can be harvested from seawater. These are placed in a capsule, which is crushed by the high-powered lasers. If it can be made sustainable on Earth, fusion could provide abundant emissions-free energy without long term radioactive waste.