US scientists achieve net energy gain for second time in a fusion reaction

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility achieved the feat using lasers to fuse two atoms

US scientists have achieved net energy gain in a nuclear fusion reaction for the second time since a historic breakthrough in December last year in the quest to find a near-limitless, safe and clean source of energy

Scientists at the California-based Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory repeated the breakthrough in an experiment in the National Ignition Facility (NIF) on 30 July that produced a higher energy yield than in December, a Lawrence Livermore spokesperson said.