DECRYPTION – An American installation has succeeded in producing more heat than was injected by radiation.
How can we report on a spectacular experimental feat of nuclear fusion without giving the impression that we have taken a decisive step on the long road that will lead (perhaps one day) to the production of “clean” and massive electricity via this technical? On Tuesday, the Americans announced with great fanfare that their laser nuclear fusion experiment launched in 2009 at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in California, had for the first time released more than energy than it had consumed. Provided we agree on the terms of the debate, this is quite fair, and it would be tempting to deduce that a major obstacle has just been removed. The reality is more complex.
To understand this, let’s start by describing the NIF experience. It is a very large factory, covering the equivalent of three football fields and as high as a ten-storey building, in which lasers are produced…
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