Limitless Clean Energy Within Sight
Physicists in the U.S. have overcome two major hurdles in fusion power generation. Their discovery increases the stability of fusion reactions and brings us one step closer to making commercial fusion energy a reality.
Nuclear fusion is a process that creates energy in the same way as our sun does. It involves the smashing together of two atoms with such force that they combine into a single, larger atom, releasing huge amounts of energy along the way.
Unlike nuclear fission—the nuclear reaction that is currently used in the energy sector—fusion does not create radioactive waste. It produces three to four times more energy than fission and does not release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, unlike burning fossil fuels. Fusion is also a very fragile process that will shut down in a fraction of a second if the correct conditions are not maintained. Therefore, there is no risk of nuclear meltdown from this reaction.
For this reaction to take place, we need to be able to mimic conditions comparable to the sun, which takes a lot of energy.
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