Nuclear Fusion

Paper Summary:

Nuclear fusion is the process by which nuclear reactions between light elements form heavier ones, up to iron. Significant amounts of energy are released in cases where the interacting nuclei belong to elements with low atomic numbers. Fusion reactions comprise the fundamental energy source of stars, including the Sun, and represent an alternative energy source in a energy-starved world. This paper provides an overview of nuclear fusion reactor construction, typical costs associated with nuclear fusion research and development, the types of energy that would be replaced by nuclear fusion, and a comparison of nuclear fusion energy and hydrogen energy. A summary of the research is provided in the conclusion.

From the Paper:

"Practical efforts to achieve fusion energy involve either of two basic approaches to contain and sometimes sustain a hot plasma of elements that undergo nuclear fusion reactions: magnetic confinement and inertial confinement. Late in the 1960s, major advances were made in efforts to harness fusion reactions for practical energy production: when the Soviets announced the achievement of high plasma temperature (about 3,000,000 K), along with other physical parameters, in a tokamak, described as a toroidal magnetic confinement system in which the plasma is kept generally stable both by an externally generated, doughnut-shaped magnetic field and by electric currents flowing within the plasma itself."

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