Why do we need fusion energy?
Fusion could be transformative for energy security and promises to support the fight against climate change.
The low carbon energy created from fusion will be used to generate electricity in the same way as existing power stations.
Fusion has the potential to provide ‘base load’ power, complementing renewable and other low carbon energy sources as a share of many countries’ energy portfolios.
Benefits of fusion energy
Low carbon
Fusion energy is carbon-free at the point of generation.
Lower hazard
A chain reaction cannot occur, and the waste produced will be shorter lived, lower level than in fission.
Continuous
Fusion energy is continuously deployable, as it does not depend on external factors such as wind or sun.
Sustainable
Fusion fuel is potentially abundant in our seas and the Earth’s crust.
High fuel efficiency
Fusion produces more energy per gram of fuel than any other process that could be achieved on Earth.
What is fusion energy?
Fusion takes place at the heart of the stars and provides the power that drives the universe.
How does it work?
Fusion energy can be thought of as the opposite of nuclear fission – combining lighter atoms rather than splitting heavier ones.
When two forms of hydrogen are heated at extreme temperatures (10 times hotter than the core of the sun) they form a plasma and can fuse together and release energy. When this happens, helium is produced, and huge amounts of carbon-free energy is released.
There is more than one way of achieving this. All require heat, pressure, or both.
Keeping a plasma well confined and stable enough to sustain fusion is hard. If the plasma cools, fusion will instantly cease. This is one reason why fusion is inherently safer than fission.
The UKAEA, for example holds this hot plasma using strong magnets in a ring-shaped machine called a ‘tokamak’.