Giant leap for nuclear fusion as lasers blast new route to
ultimate energy source  By Akshat Rathi , written on February
17, 2014  From The News Desk  Researchers in the US have
overcome a key barrier to making nuclear fusion reactors a
reality. In results published in Nature, scientists have shown
that they can now produce more energy from fusion reactions than
they put into igniting nuclear fuel for an experiment. The use
of fusion as a source of energy remains a long way off, but the
latest development is an important step towards that goal.
Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the sun and billions
of other stars in the universe. If mastered, it could provide an
unlimited source of clean energy because the raw materials are
plentiful and the operation produces no carbon emissions.
During the fusion process, smaller atoms fuse into larger ones
releasing huge amounts of energy. To achieve this on Earth,
scientists have to create conditions similar to those at the
centre of the sun, which involves crea