The Future of Nuclear: Fusion

Fusion power is nothing new; it's been funded and researched for decades and for good reason. Before I talk about what they are, let me mention what it is and how it works. "When two hydrogen nuclei collide at high speed, they may fuse together into a heavier nucleus, releasing energy. Similar fusion reactions generate the enormous energy produced by the Sun and other stars. While the ultimate goal of nuclear fusion research is to develop fusion power plants to generate electricity, research on fusion is still at an early stage. The main fuels involved would be deuterium and tritium, both heavy isotopes of hydrogen. Deuterium constitutes 0.0153% of natural hydrogen and can be extracted inexpensively from seawater. Tritium can be made from lithium, which is also abundant. The amount of deuterium present in one liter of water can produce as much energy as the combustion of 300 litres of gasoline, so there is enough deuterium in the oceans to accomplish the human energy needs for millions of years." According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, here are some of the many advantages to nuclear fusion.

• An enormous supply of inexpensive fuel (deuterium and tritium).
• A long term, sustainable, economic and safe energy source for electricity generation.
• Minimal long lived radioactive products.
• Possible recycling of some reactor materials and unburned fuel.
• No greenhouse gas effect.
  
  
  
  
  "The task of building fusion power plants is a great challenge involving the expertise of plasma physicists in many Member States. The deuterium-tritium fuel must be heated to about 100 million degrees centigrade in order to achieve fusion ignition. At these temperatures, the fuel becomes a fully ionized gas-plasma. The Physics Section is supporting research on two general methods of fusion: inertial confinement and magnetic confinement."
  
  
  Here is an excellent video which explains the difference between nuclear fission and fusion.