Nuclear Fusion, providing the energy of the future

THE REAL ALTERNATIVE ENERGY OF TOMORROW

FORGET WINDMILLS AND SOLAR PANELS

Nuclear fusion has been under development for many years, but now it is expected to be able to go into commercial electricity generation by 2030. 

Nuclear fusion is the energy of the sun and stars. It is expected to require much less fuel, which makes it much safer than the present nuclear fission reactors. It will produce much less waste.

The nuclear fusion of hydrogen into the heavier element helium is the main nuclear reaction that keeps the sun and other stars burning for millions of years. 

Proponents of nuclear fusion say it will make many other types of electric generation obsolete by producing large amounts of electricity from small amounts of heavy hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium, which are relatively abundant in ordinary seawater.

110 pounds of tritium and 73 pounds of deuterium could produce a gigawatt of electricity for a year. It is enough energy to power 700,000 American homes.

The UK based Tokamak Energy has announced that it has made breakthroughs in the design of it reactor that are very encouraging. Tokamak is one of several privately funded companies working to create a working fusion reactor. Other companies working on this are General Fusion in British Columbia and TAE Technologies, based in California. This is also being developed by Lockeed Martin in California.

This technology could probably be accelerated by a cooperative effort of these companies and some research encouragement  by the government.

Nuclear fusion appears to be a viable alternative to the unsightly and minimal generation capabilities of solar panels and wind mills. These present alternative technologies are useful for private remote power generation, mostly encouraged by government subsidies, but unlikely to ever be able to power a modern industrial society.