Calling the nuclear fusion breakthrough announced by the Energy Department on Tuesday "huge," former Trump EPA official Mandy Gunasekara told Newsmax that the development is "very promising" as the U.S. looks to move away from fossil fuels.
"This makes a clean-energy alternative future a reality," Gunasekara said on "National Report." "What we've been dealing with up until this point is pushing wind and solar, which, there's a role for wind and solar in our energy mix, but it's not going to be able to provide base load energy, which is absolutely necessary for our economy to work and for us to all reap the relative benefits with a stable, affordable source of energy."
During a Tuesday morning news conference, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced a "major scientific breakthrough" in the long-running quest to harness fusion energy, which powers the sun and other stars.
Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California for the first time produced net energy gain, which is when more energy is produced in a fusion reaction than was used to ignite it.
Granholm said the achievement will lead to advancements in national defense and described it as the future of clean power.
Gunasekara said the breakthrough doesn't mean change will happen overnight.
"I will caution a degree of moderation in excitement," she said. "These things take a long time to get from a proven test case to what's called commercial viability, meaning it is largely available to broader industries and to broader use, but it is very promising, and it seems like a very good path in America's energy development and innovation experience."
Asked how energy generated by nuclear fusion would be used, Gunasekara said it will initially be integrated into the existing electrical grid.
"That is not to say they couldn't create a version of this that one day powers vehicles, but first and foremost, this is something that will be integrated into our electricity grid and provide power that heats homes, provides air conditioning and also powers industrial activities, so that's where it would most prominently be used," she said.
Commenting on former Deputy Assistant Energy Secretary Sam Brinton being charged with felony theft for allegedly stealing luggage at an airport, Gunasekara said it was an "embarrassment."
"It just shows that when it comes to hiring folks, especially in top level positions of consequence, it needs to be merit-based, and not about checking boxes, which it seems like this administration has prioritized in a lot of applications, and it's the rest of us that are dealing with the consequences of this. But it's a good thing that he was let go," she said.