Researchers Achieve Milestone on Path toward Nuclear Fusion Energy

The Target Bay of the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, US, is seen in an undated handout image. NIF's 192 laser beams converge at the center of this giant sphere to make a tiny hydrogen fuel pellet implode. Handout via Reuters

US government scientists said on Wednesday they have taken an important step in the long trek toward making nuclear fusion - the very process that powers stars - a viable energy source for humankind.

Using the world's largest laser, the researchers coaxed fusion fuel for the first time to heat itself beyond the heat they zapped into it, achieving a phenomenon called a burning plasma that marked a stride toward self-sustaining fusion energy.