Michio Kaku calls nuclear fusion test at national lab ‘giant step toward the holy grail of energy research’

Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist, praised a recent nuclear-fusion experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Professor of theoretical physics at City College and City University of New York, Kaku said that this is a huge step towards the ultimate goal of energy research. Break-even is when you get more energy out of your investment. This could be a game-changer.

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory announced an important achievement in nuclear Fusion. It had been able to produce 1.3 Megajoules of electricity at its National Ignition Facility on Aug. 8. However, it was only for a very short time. Kaku stated that this achievement was a major step forward in clean energy.

According to the author of "The God Equation": The Quest for a Theory of Everything, "A fusion reactor does not produce carbon dioxide and does not create large quantities of nuclear waste like fission plants with uranium. It does not melt down." "The fuel is seawater, hydrogen could be made from seawater and it could be the primary fuel."

The opposite reaction to nuclear fission is called fusion. It's when two atoms collide to create a heavier atom that releases energy. This is how the sun creates energy.

Kaku explained the downsides of nuclear fusion, and why it isn't currently an accessible source of energy.

Kaku stated that hydrogen is unstable when heated to tens or millions of degrees Fahrenheit (the temperature of the sun), and this is why the reaction occurred over a hundred trillionths of a second.