{"id":54203,"date":"2025-01-06T10:10:44","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T10:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=54203"},"modified":"2025-01-06T11:19:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T11:19:58","slug":"the-worldwide-race-to-achieve-net-energy-gain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/the-worldwide-race-to-achieve-net-energy-gain\/54203\/","title":{"rendered":"The race to achieve net energy gain"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world is now on the last leg of the decades-long race to achieve net energy gain from nuclear fusion. Will competition or collaboration be the key to reaching the finish line?<\/h2>\n

Nuclear is an efficient, clean and reliable energy source. However, the threat of meltdowns \u2014 among many things \u2014 explains why nuclear fuels don\u2019t power most of the world today.<\/p>\n

The sustainability movement has fuelled the race to achieve the highest net energy gain from nuclear, accelerating research and development in fusion.<\/p>\n

The prize: Near-limitless clean energy supply<\/h3>\n

Mastering self-sustaining nuclear fusion reaction represents a virtually boundless source of clean energy without worrying about terrifying scenarios<\/a> \u2014 like what happened in Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011. Fusion minimally contributes to global warming, which can prevent climate change from worsening.<\/p>\n

Aside from environmental considerations, generating electric power through fusion reaction<\/a> yields economic benefits and geopolitical advantages. A country predominantly running on fusion can keep utility costs low, incentivizing businesses to invest and create jobs.<\/p>\n

The higher the net energy gain a nation can achieve, the more attractive it becomes to the global industrial sector \u2014 especially to players with ESG goals seeking to lease green buildings.<\/p>\n

Nuclear energy also promises self-sufficiency. Fuel imports are subject to price manipulation by exporters, piracy, waterway bottlenecks and military blockades, leaving the importer prone to domestic economic, political and humanitarian crises.<\/p>\n

Energy-self-sufficient nations can also be economically resilient. They can use their revenue to diversify their sources of income, swell their coffers further and become less vulnerable to economic shocks. With less air pollution, these countries can promote and maintain good public health more effectively.<\/p>\n

Challenges: Old and new nuclear energy downsides<\/h3>\n

Nuclear fusion powers and keeps stars alive for millions to trillions of years \u2014 an energy-generating process that could go on forever. The problem is that replicating solar fusion on Earth means scaling down the sun on a planet with suboptimal conditions.<\/p>\n

The Sun\u2019s gravity creates intense pressure, causing ordinary hydrogen to burn at enormous temperatures and densities to produce harmless helium isotopes sustained by an infinite confinement time. Earth\u2019s surface temperature is significantly cooler, and its gravitational pull is much weaker than the Sun’s.<\/p>\n

Nuclear scientists must use neutron-heavy hydrogen isotopes \u2014 deuterium and tritium<\/a> \u2014 to devise artificial fusion reaction schemes that work around the planet\u2019s lower particle density and poorer energy confinement levels. Deuterium and tritium are more reactive than ordinary hydrogen, making fusion reactors feasible.<\/p>\n

Unlike ordinary hydrogen, these nuclear fuels have detrimental byproducts. Their energy output consists of energetic neutron streams, which:<\/p>\n