Alan Beckoulay: We cannot play a scenario where we ask everybody to reduce drastically their consumption of energy. On the well-developed country, this will be not accepted by the population. The challenge is effectively now to continue producing and spending energy in a totally safe way. Now, before you go, it's time for the Guardian and Observers 2022 charity appeal. Donate at the Guardian.com forward slash charity appeal 2022.
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
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