What is Nuclear Fusion?

BREAKING NEWS! Or should I say, “ADDING” NEWS! 

This week, the Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration announced that researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) made significant progress on a controlled fusion reaction. So, what is fusion?

Fusion is a nuclear energy process in which you squish or “add” up two light atoms so close together that they form a heavier atom. In our universe, we can see this process by looking up to (not directly!) to our Sun! Our Sun is so massive and dense that inside of it a lot of Hydrogen atoms are being squished together to form Helium atoms. This process releases a lot of energy, making our Sun very bright and hot. For this reason, scientists and engineers in multiple fields have “fused” efforts for decades to try to replicate this naturally occurring process. This week, LLNL’s results brought us a step closer to replicating and understanding the energy of the Sun!

By Dr. Jose Veleta