‘Nothing is impossible’: the major breakthrough in nuclear fusion

This week, researchers at the US National Ignition Facility in
California achieved a major breakthrough in nuclear fusion. For the
first time, humans have harnessed the process that powers the stars
to generate more energy from a fusion reaction than was used to
start it — otherwise known as ‘ignition’. But how close are we to
moving this from laboratories to power plants, and will it become
the clean, safe, and abundant source of energy the world so
desperately needs? Ian Sample speaks to Alain Bécoulet about what’s
being called ‘one of the most impressive scientific feats of the
21st century’. Help support our independent journalism at
theguardian.com/sciencepod