However, the necessary combination of temperature, pressure, and duration has proven to be difficult to produce in a practical and economical manner. These include reduced radioactivity in operation and little high-level nuclear waste, ample fuel supplies, and increased safety. Most designs aim to heat their fuel to around 100 million degrees, which presents a major challenge in producing a successful design.Īs a source of power, nuclear fusion is expected to have many advantages over fission. Proposed fusion reactors generally use heavy hydrogen isotopes such as deuterium and tritium (and especially a mixture of the two), which react more easily than protium (the most common hydrogen isotope), to allow them to reach the Lawson criterion requirements with less extreme conditions. In stars, the most common fuel is hydrogen, and gravity provides extremely long confinement times that reach the conditions needed for fusion energy production. The combination of these figures that results in a power-producing system is known as the Lawson criterion. įusion processes require fuel and a confined environment with sufficient temperature, pressure, and confinement time to create a plasma in which fusion can occur. Research into fusion reactors began in the 1940s, but to date, no design has produced more fusion power output than the electrical power input. Devices designed to harness this energy are known as fusion reactors. In a fusion process, two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, while releasing energy.

The Joint European Torus (JET) magnetic fusion experiment in 1991įusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions.

Stardrive 2 fusion power