US Department of Energy announces breakthrough in nuclear fusion. Researchers for the first time managed to get more energy using a thermonuclear reaction than they spent on its support.

According to a press release from the ministry, the breakthrough was still on December 5, but it was only reported now.. The achievement is called "

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“We have had a theoretical understanding of fusion for over a century, but the path from knowledge to action can be long and difficult.. Today's milestone shows what we can do with perseverance,” said Arati Prabhakar, Chief Science and Technology Adviser to the President of the United States and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy..

During the experiment, scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory spent 2.05 megajoules of energy, and received 3.15 megajoules. However, according to the US Department of Energy, further research is needed to apply this technology to power homes and businesses..

Fusion is the process by which two light nuclei combine to form one heavier nucleus, releasing a large amount of energy.. In the 1960s, a group of scientists hypothesized that lasers could be used to induce fusion in the laboratory.. This idea later evolved into inertial confinement fusion, starting more than 60 years of research and development in lasers, optics, diagnostics, target fabrication, computer modeling and simulation, and so on..

To realize this idea, scientists built more and more powerful laser systems, which led to the creation of NIF - the largest and most powerful laser system in the world.. The stadium-sized system uses powerful laser beams to generate temperatures and pressures similar to those found in the cores of stars and giant planets, as well as inside exploding nuclear weapons..

Previously, China's EAST tokamak, also called " He was able to reach a temperature of 70 million degrees Celsius and maintain it for 17 minutes..