The central ceremonial hall of the Academy of Athens is decorated with frescoes depicting the story of Prometheus, from his birth to the moment when he steals the fire and gives it to people, is punished and, finally, Hercules frees him from his shackles. Prometheus was punished for giving fire to people.

On a much smaller scale, something similar happened three weeks ago at the Lawrence Livermore Research Center in California, where scientists for the first time managed to achieve nuclear fusion with less energy than is released. What does it mean; From the atomic bombs to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we all know about nuclear fission. In this case, the fission of the nucleus occurs, this occurs during the explosion of a nuclear bomb or at nuclear power plants. In both cases, fusion and fission produce a very large amount of heat, which is used to produce steam and run turbines. In other words, nuclear fission and nuclear fusion are two very complex ways to boil water.

However, there are huge differences between the two processes. In nuclear fission, a heavy nucleus, say uranium, decays into smaller nuclei and in the process releases a huge amount of heat, as well as neutrons and by-products, which are unstable and in turn emit beta and gamma radiation, this is what we colloquially call radioactivity.

Fear of the release of radioactivity is the reason why many countries have not invested in nuclear power plants, which, apart from renewable energy sources, are the least harmful way to produce energy in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Nuclear power plants do not produce bombs and are not in danger of exploding like bombs, but if they are designed incorrectly, as in the case of Fukushima, radioactive gases or liquids can be released.

Nuclear fusion is how big stars like the Sun work, i.e. nuclear fusion. This is a relatively inexhaustible source of energy – even our Sun, which is 4.6 billion years old, will stop emitting heat in about 10 billion years, and then the life that we have on Earth will disappear. Nuclear fusion fuses very light nuclei to produce heat and particles that are more stable and do not emit radioactivity, so it is considered much more preferable than nuclear fission. The problem is that the process of synthesis is much more technologically complicated than fission.

Achieved bombardment of the hydrogen capsule with approximately 200 laser beams.

In mid-December, a major breakthrough was announced in the production of energy through nuclear fusion, something that various scientists around the world have been trying to achieve for decades. I remember 40 years ago at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) my professors in a reactor with a diameter of about three and a half meters, which looked like a large metal coil, a donut called a tokamak, tried to achieve fusion by compression and a very strong increase in the temperature of the plasma, i.e. e. ionized gas. At the time, it was said that the merger would happen in 20 years, and others joked that it would always be in twenty years.

At Lawrence Livermore, California, a hydrogen capsule was bombarded with about 200 laser beams, which raised the temperature to 100 million degrees and effectively released the equivalent of about three and a half bars of dynamite, using about two bars of energy. And if it sounds paradoxical, then the energy for the operation of lasers that raised the temperature in the plasma is not included in the calculation.

Still, it’s an impressive start with a lot of promise. So far, with all our efforts, scientists have not been able to achieve a positive energy balance in the reaction and plasma ignition has not occurred. It is this long-awaited ignition that reminds us of Prometheus and gives hope for our common future and the avoidance of a climatic Armageddon.

Success in California is amazing news for humanity. Looking to 2050 and the global goal of zero carbon emissions, the mermaid is lucky. The goal of Net Zero will be achieved mainly through renewable energy, hydrogen technology and nuclear fusion and fission energy, but mainly through our personal decisions in our daily lives.

* Mr. Konstantinos Sinolakis is a full member of the Academy of Athens.