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Good news from a laboratory associated with atomic Armageddon

A breakthrough for clean renewable energy
Good news from a laboratory associated with atomic Armageddon | 60 Minutes 01:09

In this season when the days grow short and light is at a premium, the Department of Energy brought good news from the laboratory often associated with atomic Armageddon.

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, after decades of disappointing experiments has achieved a nuclear fusion reaction that produces more power than it consumes. Fusion energy, the same process the sun uses to create heat and light, promises to be clean, cheap and nearly unexpendable. It produces neither greenhouse gases nor nuclear waste.

The breakthrough's practical applications are years, even decades away, but in this season of hope, it sheds a little light in the darkness. 

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