For decades researchers and scientists all over the world have been trying to turn the dream of nuclear fusion into a reality. So far the exact procedure to bring about nuclear fusion had eluded scientists. But now preparations are underway at the National Ignition Facility to produce the world’s first nuclear fusion reaction in a controlled environment. If the team at the ignition facility can actually harness the energy source of atomic bombs, the sun and the stars, they will be ensuring a limitless supply of clean energy for residential and commercial purposes.  Read more about U.S. Nuclear Power Industry Analysis

So far only nuclear fission has been possible. Not only will the energy produced by nuclear fusion be exponentially more than that produced through fission, but there will be no radioactive waste.

This experiment scheduled to be conducted next year in the Ignition facility will shed new light into the origins of the Universe. In the light of the importance of this event the Ignition facility is hosted a special two day symposium to address the topic called “Nuclear Diagnostic in Fusion Energy Research.” It was held Aug 19th and 20th in the Ignition Facility during the 238th meeting of the National Meeting of the American Chemical society.

For the last 50 years, scientist have made several attempts to produce controlled nuclear fusion. In 2010 the researchers at the Ignition facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California will be embarking on a historical mission to finally make the dream come true.  To achieve the goal a set up capable of generating 192 giant laser beams will be created at the ignition facility. These laser beams will be channeled on a pea sized hydrogen fuel filled target. The lasers are among the world’s highest energy laser system. Scientists are hoping that the beam will ignite or fuse the nuclei of the hydrogen atoms and trigger the high energy reaction.

There will also be a role for chemists in this experiment to be conducted at the ignition facility. Their expertise will be required to determine if a nuclear fusion reaction has indeed taken place in the ignition facility experiment which will help to gauge the success of the procedure.

Dawn Shaughnessy, Ph.D., a scientist with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory further added that the idea behind the ignition facility experiment is to fuse hydrogen particles together to produce neutrons. Once the material produced by the experiments is analyzed it will give scientists an understanding about the material produced at the ignition facility and how many neutrons were formed. The success rate of the ignition facility experiment will be directly proportional to the number of neutrons formed.