A step closer to a new form of renewable energy: nuclear fusion
On Tuesday, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm walked up to a microphone to drop some big science news — scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California had achieved a fusion milestone.
For those of us too far removed from science class to remember — nuclear fusion is the process that powers our sun.
So far, fusion as a power source has remained out of reach, the realm of speculative fiction.
But this is not a popcorn flick, it’s the real thing, the first time this step toward fusion energy has been successfully created in a laboratory, ever.
And it has had people talking, even before the announcement, especially other folks in the world of fusion research.
Chris Hansen is a senior research scientist in the Aeronautics & Astronautics Department at the University of Washington.
You can hear Soundside's conversation with Dr. Hansen by clicking the play button above.
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Libby Denkmann
Host, Soundside
Libby Denkmann joined KUOW in December 2021 as the host of the midday show Soundside. She’s a native Pacific Northwesterner who grew up in Redmond, graduated from the University of Washington and covered local news as a producer and reporter with KIRO Radio.
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Sarah Leibovitz
Supervising Producer, Soundside
Sarah joined KUOW in 2019 as senior producer on The Record. She is now Supervising KUOW’s new noon time show, Soundside. Prior to working at KUOW, Sarah was lead producer at the Seattle podcast production company Larj Media, and a teaching artist with Path with Art.
More stories from Sarah Leibovitz »
