![]() As a new source of carbon-free baseload electricity, producing no long-lived radioactive waste, fusion could make a positive contribution to the challenges of resource availability, reduced carbon emissions, and fission waste disposal and safety issues. The ideal future energy mix for the planet would be based on a variety of generation methods instead of a large reliance on one source. As with many new technologies, costs will be more expensive at first, when the technology is new, and gradually less expensive as economies of scale bring the costs down. The average cost per kilowatt of electricity can not yet be extrapolated, however, as this would require the operational experience which will only be available after ITER has been operated for some years. Fusion occurs in the sun where the atoms of (isotopes of hydrogen, hydrogen-3, and hydrogen-2) deuterium and tritium combine in a high-pressure atmosphere with extremely high temperatures to produce an output in. The quantity of fuel present in the vessel at any one time is enough for a few seconds only and there is no risk of a chain reaction.Ĭost: The power output of the kind of fusion reactor that is envisaged for the second half of this century would likely be similar to that of a fission reactor (i.e., between 1 and 1.7 gigawatts). An enormous amount of energy is released in this process, much greater than the energy released during the nuclear fission reaction. It is difficult enough to reach and maintain the precise conditions necessary for fusion-if any disturbance occurs, the plasma cools within seconds and the reaction stops. No risk of meltdown: A Fukushima-type nuclear accident is not possible in a tokamak fusion device. (Radioactive tritium is neither a fissile nor a fissionable material.) There are no enriched materials in a fusion reactor like ITER that could be exploited to make nuclear weapons. Limited risk of proliferation: Fusion doesn't employ fissile materials like uranium and plutonium. The activation of components in a fusion reactor is anticipated to be low enough for the materials to be recycled or reused within 100 years, depending on the materials used in the "first-wall" facing the plasma. No long-lived radioactive waste: Nuclear fusion reactors produce no high activity, long-lived nuclear waste. ![]() Its major by-product is helium: an inert, non-toxic gas. No CO₂: Fusion doesn't emit harmful substances like carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. (Terrestrial reserves of lithium would permit the operation of fusion power plants for more than 1,000 years, while sea-based reserves of lithium, used in a fusion reactor in its Li-6 isotope form, would fulfil needs for millions of years.) A critical challenge is how to breed and recover tritium reliably in a fusion device. Deuterium can be distilled from all forms of water, while tritium will be produced during the fusion reaction as fusion neutrons interact with lithium. ![]() Millions of years: Fusion in ITER will require two elements: deuterium and tritium. Fusion has the potential to provide the kind of baseload energy needed to provide electricity to our cities and our industries. The following advantages make fusion worth pursuing.Ībundant energy: Fusing atoms together in a controlled way releases nearly four million times more energy than a chemical reaction such as the burning of coal, oil or gas and four times as much as nuclear fission reactions (at equal mass). The fossil fuels that shaped 19th and 20th century civilization can only be relied on at the cost of greenhouse gases and pollution.Ī new large-scale, sustainable and carbon-free form of energy is urgently needed. © EUROfusion)The next decades are crucially important to putting the world on a path of reduced greenhouse gas emissions.īy the end of the century, demand for energy will have tripled under the combined pressure of population growth, increased urbanization and expanding access to electricity in developing countries. (An artist's impression of the European fusion power plant design. a number of advantages make fusion worth pursuing. Subscribe to BBC Focus magazine for fascinating new Q&As every month and follow on Twitter for your daily dose of fun science facts.Sustainability, abundant fuels, no long-lived waste. Why does the fusion of hydrogen in stars release energy?.Again, the lower mass of the fusion products is turned into energy via Einstein’s famous equation, but over 10 times the amount produced by fission for each gram of ‘fuel’. In contrast, fusion involves ramming together nuclei of light elements like hydrogen so violently they fuse together, producing fresh nuclei plus neutrons. The difference appears as energy – courtesy of E=mc² – which is carried away by fast-moving neutrons. While both fission and fusion release energy, the process and amount is very different.įission exploits the instability of nuclei of heavy elements like uranium, which can be split using neutrons, producing fragments with a lower total mass. Fusion, as its name suggests, involves fusing nuclei and is the power source of the stars. Nuclear fission involves splitting atomic nuclei, and is the process used in nuclear power stations. Why do both fission and fusion release energy?
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