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Our current nuclear power stations use nuclear fission – essentially splitting an atom’s nucleus. Nuclear fusion, the process that powers the Sun and stars, merges two atomic nuclei into a larger one. Both reactions release large amounts of energy, but with nuclear fusion, there is a high energy yield and low nuclear waste production.
Nuclear fusion's future, according to the woman leading the charge Jan 19, 2023 Kim Budil, Director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, oversaw the recent fusion breakthrough in the pursuit of clean, abundant energy.
The achievement by China’s Institute of Plasma Physics at its Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) is a milestone on the fusion journey, and will provide valuable insights for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, a collaboration between the European Union, India, Japan, China, Russia, South Korea and the United States.
Nuclear fusion gets a lot of public attention due to its fantastic potential. Fusion mimics the process that powers the sun, creating massive energy without carbon emissions or long-lasting radioactive waste. According to the World Nuclear Association, fusion offers a nearly endless energy source with close to zero emissions.
The success at this federal lab proves what fusion pioneers have long believed is possible: the same process that powers the sun can be recreated on Earth. That’s a huge step forward for the decades-long global mission of fusion scientists, providing humanity with a cheap, limitless and carbon-free source of electricity.
Nuclear fusion, however, was not a major part of the conversation — but as the drought and heat waves in Europe, the flooding in Pakistan and Nigeria and every other climate catastrophe has recently shown, we need large-scale changes. The transition to nuclear fusion in the coming decade could provide just that.
A nuclear fusion reactor in South Korea has set a new record, superheating a plasma loop to 100 million degrees Celsius for 48 seconds. The Korea Institute of Fusion Energy (KFE) announced in a statement that the Korea Superconducting Tomak Advanced Research (KSTAR) reactor had broken its previous record of 31 seconds, Euronews reports.
Top energy stories: US scientists announce breakthrough in nuclear fusion; HSBC says it will stop financing new oil and gas fields; Global coal consumption set to reach an all-time high. For more on the World Economic Forum’s work in the energy space, visit the Shaping the Future of Energy, Materials and Infrastructure Platform.
There are 74 experimental fusion reactors currently operating, with 15 more proposed or planned. Of the fusion reactors in operation or proposed, 79 are owned publicly and 20 privately. Private sector fusion companies have recently attracted around $2 billion dollars of investment.
Nuclear fusion could provide unlimited clean zero-carbon electricity. Up to now, experiments have failed to keep the reaction going for long enough. But now a giant magnet is at the core of an attempt to make fusion power a reality.