when economics and sci-fi meet

From time to time economics meets science fiction. On December 5, in a California laboratory, through nuclear fusion, it was possible to reproduce what happens in the nucleus of the sun and stars. This happened for a few moments and in a space the size of a grain of corn, but it is important because it can change our trajectory of energetic self-destruction. Accelerate the arrival of 100% clean energy. Give humanity a powerful source of energy, cheap and non-polluting.

It is curious that this scientific/technological achievement comes at the end of a year in which the energy field has been dominated by news that makes clear the world’s reliance on fossil sources of energy, courtesy of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Let me put it this way: It is a way to restore “balance” to the universe. We have a reason to smile, after so many tears and losses, due to the War, the covid and our violence.

They were almost 60 years of searches that culminated in a small great success. It’s small because the energy achieved at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California is barely enough to heat 10 coffee pots. It’s huge, because it shows that nuclear fusion is possible in practice. Fusion is the process by which two light nuclei combine to form a single heavier nucleus, releasing an enormous amount of energy in the process. This is a clean process, which does not generate radioactive waste. Contrary to nuclear fusion, which is the process with which nuclear plants work. What remains is to get the merger on a much larger scale and figure out how to make this work in a viable way, from a private sector investment and public policy standpoint.

There are years left for this to be part of everyday life, but it is less. Ricardo Betti, a professor at the University of Rochester, compares this moment to what happened at the end of the 19th century when it was realized that refined petroleum in the form of gasoline could cause an explosion. “We have the spark, but we lack the engine, the car and even the tires…”, Betti tells CBC.

The announcement was made by the United States Secretary of Energy, because it is a project financed by the US Government at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Although it is a process that has been more than a decade in its final phase, the achievement represents a triumph for the Joe Biden administration. It can inject a shot of optimism into the struggling process of reducing carbon emissions.

In terms of the long-term calendar, what was achieved is to change a horizon in which it was thought that the merger would be a reality for the last quarter of this century. Nuclear fusion applied to the production of super cheap and super clean electrical energy could be a reality around the year 2050, experts now think.

There is a long way to go, but a very important step has already been taken. Other groups of scientists are likely to announce similar results in the coming months. In France and England they are in very advanced stages in the fusion development processes, in the laboratory. Each with their own path. Instead of using lasers, like in California, they are experimenting with large magnets.

According to Reuters, there are also private sector initiatives related to nuclear fusion, for approximately 2.8 billion dollars. Tech billionaires like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos participate in them. The massive inflow of private capital could accelerate the speed of change. Will this science arrive in time to repair the world? That story will be told to the next generation.

lmgonzalez@eleconomista.com.mx