Fusion: Cheap, Safe and Clean
Last updated
Last updated
The word fusion means "a merging of separate elements into a unified whole". Nuclear fusion refers to the "union of atomic nuclei to form heavier nuclei resulting in the release of enormous amounts of energy" (Merriam-Webster Online, www.m-w.com). Fusion takes place when two low-mass isotopes, typically isotopes of hydrogen, unite under conditions of extreme pressure and temperature.
Fusion is what powers the sun. Atoms of Tritium and Deuterium (isotopes of hydrogen, Hydrogen-3 and Hydrogen-2, respectively) unite under extreme pressure and temperature to produce a neutron and a helium isotope. Along with this, an enormous amount of energy is released, which is several times the amount produced from fission.
Fusion powers stars and produces virtually all elements in a process called nucleosynthesis. The Sun is a main-sequence star, and, as such, generates its energy by nuclear fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium. In its core, the Sun fuses 620 million metric tons of hydrogen and makes 606 million metric tons of helium each second. The fusion of lighter elements in stars releases energy and the mass that always accompanies it. For example, in the fusion of two hydrogen nuclei to form helium, 0.7% of the mass is carried away in the form of kinetic energy of an alpha particle or other forms of energy, such as electromagnetic radiation.
Fusion would be environmentally friendly, producing no combustion products or greenhouse gases. While fusion is a nuclear process, the products of the fusion reaction (helium and a neutron) are not radioactive, and with proper design a fusion power plant would be passively safe, and would produce no long-lived radioactive waste. Design studies show that electricity from fusion should be about the same cost as present day sources.
The Fusion Team as well as scientists around the globe continue to work on controlling nuclear fusion in an effort to make a fusion reactor to produce electricity. We believe there are opportunities with such a power source since fusion creates less radioactive material than fission and has a nearly unlimited fuel supply. It safe and clean compared to fission.
