Will breakthroughs in nuclear fusion help fight climate change?

Scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy have reached a breakthrough in nuclear fusion.

For the first time ever in a laboratory, researchers were able to generate more energy from fusion reactions than they used to start the process. The total power out was around 150% of the power that was put in by 192 laser beams.

“America has achieved a tremendous scientific breakthrough,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said at a press conference.

The achievement came at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), a $3.5 billion laser complex at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. For more than a decade, NIF has struggled to meet its stated goal of producing a fusion reaction that generates more energy than it consumes.

Read the full article from NPR here.