Fusion Energy: The Power of the Future
Aaron Helmericks
Web Project for Physics 102 @ UAF
There
are many advantages to fusion energy, four of these advantages are listed below.
Fuel
Supply: Controlled
thermonuclear fusion utilizes hydrogen and its two isotopes, deuterium and
tritium, for fuel. The
major fuel of fusion, deuterium, is extracted from ordinary water. The last time
I checked, unless you live in the Sahara Desert, water is a pretty common
substance.
No
Chernobyl: Unlike
its cousin fission, fusion cannot have a meltdown and cause a disaster like Chernobyl.
The amounts of deuterium
and tritium in the fusion reaction zone will be so small that a large
uncontrolled release of energy would be impossible. In the event of a
malfunction, the plasma would strike the walls of its containment vessel and
cool.
No
Weapons Material: Another
significant advantage is that the materials and by-products of fusion are not
suitable for use in the production of nuclear weapons.
No Nuclear
Waste: Also,
there will be no fission products formed to present a handling and disposal
problem, unlike fission energy which has large amounts of high level radioactive
waste products.
Conclusion
The great abundance
fuel materials, the fuels wide distribution over the earth, and the
environmental acceptability of fusion are augmented by the expectation that
fusion energy will be an economical source of electricity generation.