British laboratories have achieved a breakthrough in nuclear fusion power generation to produce energy that can be used by millions of households

On February 9, local time, the European Community United Fusion Center (JET) laboratory in Oxford, England, broke the world record it had previously set, and the experiment generated 11 megawatts of energy in five seconds, enough to supply 10,000 families.

The experiment extracts the energy by squeezing together the isotopes of two hydrogens, deuterium and tritium. This is also known as "deuterium-tritium fusion", one of the most common and easily achievable forms of nuclear fusion, and JET has been studying the possibility of generating electricity for nearly 40 years.

This experiment yielded twice as much energy as a similar experiment conducted in 1997. And the experiment proves that the reaction can be achieved in a safe and sustainable environment, which is expected to lead to an almost unlimited supply of low-carbon, low-radiation energy. The experiment also verified the feasibility of the new fusion reactor "ITER", which is currently being built in France.

Dr Joe Milnes, Head of Operations at the Reactor Laboratory, said: "Jet's experiment brings us one step closer to nuclear fusion power generation. We've shown that it's possible to create a miniature star inside a machine and hold it for five seconds, gaining a huge amount of energy, which really takes us into a new realm. ”

The ITER facility in the south of France, supported by governments around the world, is expected to prove in the future that fusion is the final step towards becoming a reliable energy supplier in the second half of this century. The operation of such fusion-based future power plants will not produce greenhouse gases, but only a very small amount of short-lived radioactive waste.

Prof Ian Chapman, CEO of JET, said: "The experiment was a success. If it doesn't work out, then we're going to have concerns about ITER. "This is a high-stakes project and we owe our achievements to the ingenuity of human beings and their trust in scientific efforts." ”

But analysts note that this may not help the fight to mitigate the effects of climate change, and that "there is still huge uncertainty about when fusion energy is ready for commercialization." One estimate suggests that it could take 20 years, and that humans need to achieve net zero by 2050. ”