Nuclear Breakthrough - wind & solar = transition technologyies, page-7

It was an experiment that generated enough energyto power 60 kettles.

But scientists have hailed it as a "bigmoment" in the development of nuclear fusion technology, and a significantstep closer to providing an almost limitless source of clean energy.

Key points:

• Researchers around the world have long been working on nuclear fusion technology
• The latest experiment generated 59 megajoules of sustained fusion energy in five seconds
• Scientists say it's a "very exciting" development and a step towards generating electricity

Researchers at the Joint European Torus (JET)experiment in the United Kingdom managed to produce a record amount of heatenergy over a five-second period, the UK Atomic Energy Authority said.

The 59 megajoules of sustained fusion energyproduced were more than double the previous record of 21.7mj achieved there in1997.

The agency said the result was "the clearestdemonstration worldwide of the potential for fusion energy to deliver safe andsustainable low-carbon energy".

"If we can maintain fusion for five seconds,we can do it for five minutes and then five hours as we scale up our operationsin future machines," said Tony Donne, program manager for EUROfusion.

"This is a big moment for every one of us andthe entire fusion community."

The results were a "huge step closer toconquering one of the biggest scientific and engineering challenges of themall", said Ian Chapman, chief executive of the UK Atomic Energy Authority.

The JET facility is home to the world's largest andmost powerful operational tokamak — a donut-shaped device that isconsidered one promising method for performing controlled fusion.

Scientists who were not involved in the projectbelieved it was a significant result, but still a very long way from achievingcommercial fusion power.

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