Huge steps have been made in finding a new energy source, after scientists have set a new record for the amount of energy released in a sustained fusion reaction.
The previous record was set in 1997 at 21.7 megajoules, but researchers at the Joint European Torus (JET) have now generated 59 megajoules of heat.
The Culham Centre for Fusion energy have been refining tests for 20 years in an attempt to create a new sustainable low-carbon energy source.
Plasmas, or highly ionised gases are heated to 150m degrees Celsius and are contained in a doughnut-shaped JET. Atomic nuclei can fuse together to form new elements and release large amounts of energy at these high temperatures.
A reader in nuclear materials at Imperial College London, Dr Mark Wenman, said: "It's been a while since they have produced a record like this and it's a major milestone on the way to proving that fusion's a viable and sustainable energy source for the future.
"Five seconds doesn't sound like much, but if you can burn it for five seconds, presumably you could keep it stable and keep it burning for many minutes, hours, or days, which is what you are going to need for a proper fusion power plant. It’s the proof of that concept that they have achieved".
