Nuclear Fusion - The Holy Grail of Clean Energy

in #science7 years ago (edited)

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From cave dwellers to the modern humans, our species has been through a long and drastic transformation. From being ‘just another species’ on Earth, to becoming a species that has the power to change the world (for better or for worse), humanity has really come a long way.

This, of course, was made possible because of all our inventions and discoveries. But, if we look back, one could argue that the discovery of fire was arguably one of the biggest milestones we have ever crossed. In a way, it was our first interface with ‘energy’, which changed the entire course of humanity in that, it has literally been the fuel for all our technological advancements.  

Apart from the fact that energy is the reason for the existence of life, we also need it for the collective human activities. Anything and everything we do requires energy in one form or the other like electricity, heat, sound, mechanical energy and so on. As the complexities of our civilisation grows, our need for energy only multiplies. 

Up until now we have heavily relied on fossil fuels for our energy needs but as we have come to realise, using fossil fuels has had adverse effects on our environment causing massive and rampant unnatural changes in nature. Also, since they are limited, there is no guarantee of future supply. This has led us to identify other sources of energy like solar, wind, water, geothermal and more but one source of energy is especially intriguing which has been making waves as being the holy grail of clean energy.

Fusion Energy

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The concept of fusion energy is not new to us by any measures. In fact, we have been long aware of the fact that fusion energy is what keeps the sun (and other stars) ticking. But what exactly is fusion energy and how is it different from the rest of the energy sources, one might ask.

To explain simply, it is a process in which two atoms join together to make another, heavier atom. In our sun, hydrogen atoms join together in the core to form helium. The whole reaction releases enormous amounts of energy which is evident from the fact that even at a distance of 150 million kilometres, we feel the intense heat of the sun along with it’s light.

On Earth, scientists are trying to replicate the same process for the purposes of energy generation. Instead of using hydrogen we use Deuterium and Tritium, which are both forms of Hydrogen to create fusion reactions.

So, what are the benefits of fusion energy over other sources of energy? Well, they are manifold which I’ll discuss next. 

Why Fusion Energy

Fusion energy, as I mentioned above, is being heralded as the ‘holy grail of clean energy’. It has been a long standing dream of scientists all around the globe to finally make sustainable fusion energy a reality. Controlling a process which happens in the core of stars has proven to be quite difficult for decades but in the past decade or so, many promising breakthroughs have renewed excitement into this. 



There are a number of benefits that harnessing fusion energy will provide that can trump even the other renewable sources of energy. Some of these benefits are: 

Extremely Efficient & Clean Energy

Generating energy through nuclear fusion is very efficient. It requires very little fuel to generate an enormous amounts of energy. In fact, only one kilogram of fuel can produce the same amount of energy as 10 million kilograms of fossil fuel. (Source

This will help us quickly replace all fossil fuels and make the entire world a carbon neutral planet. This will also have massive impacts on the environment. Things won’t get better drastically or in a short time period, but over decades, it will mitigate a lot of harm that we have done to the planet. 

Safe

The nuclear energy that we use today comes from the process called nuclear fission. This process is the opposite of nuclear fusion and thus, instead of combining two atoms, it results in a splitting of an atom into two. The problem with this is that it creates huge amounts of radioactive waste which is difficult to deal with, dangerous for human beings and the environment.

Nuclear fusion on the other hand produces no direct radioactive wastes and overall, produces only about 1% waste that too short lived. This makes it a very safe source of energy. 

Limitless Fuel

For nuclear fusion, the fuel that we need are hydrogen isotopes. To obtain those, we can use sea water which covers two-thirds of the Earth. As this fuel is readily available, and also because a lot of energy can be generated from a relatively less amount of fuel, it will result in nuclear fusion being a very cheap source of energy.

So, we have virtually limitless energy and too for a fraction of cost we are paying today. This alone makes nuclear fusion the ‘holy grail’ of energy source. 

Space Exploration


The applications for nuclear energy do not end on Earth. In fact, if nuclear fusion reactors are made in compact size (which Lockheed Martin recently claim to have achieved) they could be used in space ship as well. The thrust provided by them would be much more powerful leading to faster space ships. It is estimated that a space ship equipped with such a reactor would help us reach Mars in just a month compared to the 9 months it takes today.

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There is already one fusion reactor only about 8 "light-minutes" away from us, and we really should use it as much as possible: our sun! :)
I am a little bit skeptical about if human made fusion reactors will work reliably one day but I also don't exclude that possibility. Anyway it is very interesting for sure ...

Yes you are right. Solar power is slowly becoming the norm with wider availability and cheaper rates every year. However it can't be used in a lot of places around the world which do not get 'enough' sunlight. Hence the requirement for an artificial sun (figuratively). If it is made possible, it will be a landmark success in human history.

Thanks for reading :)

Oh, I live in Germany and I can say that combined with a rather good energy storage device in my house even in winter (also at nights) I still reach about 50 % autarky, that means only 50 % of electricity I use comes from outside and in summer it's about 95 %. The problem is that more people should use these storages, they must become even better and cheaper also.
But that it is possible to be independent only using "renewable" energy already today even in the Antarctic you can read here:
http://www.antarcticstation.org/

Its funny people think the sun is a giant nuclear reactor. Consensus science is such joke! But riddle me this one. If the sun is a nuclear reactor, the heat comes from the core and radiates outward 360 degrees in all directions, Correct? That would mean the closer you get to the core the hotter it becomes. So my question to anyone who thinks the Sun is a nuclear furnace is this: Why then, do astronomers observe the Sun and see things like sun sports; where we get a glimpse into cooler areas that are deeper then outer areas of the photosphere? Right there destroys the theory of the Sun. It wasn't until we invented nuclear weapons did we come up with this ridiculous THEORY. On the contrary, the sun is powered externally from electrical circuitry called Birkland currents which run into the poles of the Sun. I highly recommend anyone who is interested in doing research on the Electric Universe theory. Once you study this theory it's very obvious that the Sun is not self gravitating and self consuming hydrogen to then produce nuclear fusion. Also, nuclear fusion as a source of energy is a horrid idea. Do we really need to go into detail as to why nuclear energy is a bad idea? I think whats happened in Japan is enough proof. Damn humans never learn.

The bombs dropped in Japan used Nuclear Fission and not Nuclear Fusion.

Thanks I know. I was talking about Fukushima. There is no safe way to deliver nuclear energy (Fission or fusion)I think its abundantly clear. You can't foresee every scenario that could take place.

Informative post.

I really hope we can get fusion reactors working. They will be such a safe, clean source of energy.

Yeah! Whatever frees us from fossil fuels. It's high time now!

Hi buddy. like old photos? Come visit my blog.

Its funny people think the sun is a giant nuclear reactor. Consensus science is such joke! But riddle me this one. If the sun is a nuclear reactor, the heat comes from the core and radiates outward 360 degrees in all directions, Correct? That would mean the closer you get to the core the hotter it becomes. So my question to anyone who thinks the Sun is a nuclear furnace is this: Why then, do astronomers observe the Sun and see things like sun sports; where we get a glimpse into cooler areas that are deeper then outer areas of the photosphere? Right there destroys the theory of the Sun. It wasn't until we invented nuclear weapons did we come up with this ridiculous THEORY. On the contrary, the sun is powered externally from electrical circuitry called Birkland currents which run into the poles of the Sun. I highly recommend anyone who is interested in doing research on the Electric Universe theory. Once you study this theory it's very obvious that the Sun is not self gravitating and self consuming hydrogen to then produce nuclear fusion. Also, nuclear fusion as a source of energy is a horrid idea. Do we really need to go into detail as to why nuclear energy is a bad idea? I think whats happened in Japan is enough proof. Damn humans never learn.

Good Post

Excellent read. Great info.

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