COLUMBUS, Ohio — A recently announced discovery from the U.S. Department of Energy has been the talk of the science world ever since the news broke.
What You Need To Know
- On Tuesday, the U.S Department of Energy announced an energy discovery
- Scientists said they were able to create more energy than what was put into it
- It is the hope one day the energy can replace fossil fuels
- An expert said it's decades away from happening
For the average person, learning about nuclear fusion can sound like a graduate level science class or something from a sci-fi film.
Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory created energy, more energy than what was put into it.
Richard Denning, Ph.D., and emeritus professor of nuclear engineering at Ohio State University, explained what potential the discovery holds to replace fossil fuels.
“This is certainly a major achievement that’s occurred at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,” said Denning. “It has potential commercial value, although the pathway to economic fusion is going to be through magnetic confinement fusion.”
Denning said it is still decades away from becoming a reality.
In the meantime, Ohio State is working on developing a new course for fusion engineering to learn more about the energy and its potential.