What
is fusion energy?
What are the advantages of fusion energy?
What are its disadvantages?
Fusion is the process where two light atoms are combined to form one heavy atom. It is essentially the opposit of fission, where fission is the spliting of a heavy atom. Normally, Dueterium is used in fusion reactions as it is the cheapest and most abundant of all of the fuels. Dueterium can be found in almost any type of ordinary water. This makes it easy to locate and extract. In order to induce the fusion process, the fuel must be heated to millions of degrees. This allows for a self-sustaining reaction environment.
What are the advantages of Fusion?
The fusion process can produce large amounts of energy because large amounts of heat are given off when two of the atoms fuse. Approximately 17MeV of energy is released each time one fusion event occurs.1 If the surrounding gas in the fusion chamber is about 10-5 atm then the energy created in the reaction will be passed to the gas as heat energy. It is this energy that can be harvested for electricty production.2 The fuels used in the reactions are relatively inexpensive as they are found in abundance in many places around the world. Their abundance is much greater than that of any of the current fossil fuels used today. Also, the process that is used to collect the heat energy is much more efficient than that of using steam for electricity production.
What are the disadvantages of Fusion?
In a fusion reaction, it is virtually impossible to sustain the extremely high temperatures required for the process to occur. Any conventional material at those temperatures would melt and would also react with the reaction fuels. Only a properly shaped magnetic field can contain the fuels without them reacting with the containment materials. Also, logically, the amount of energy output must exceed the energy input for electrical energy production to take place. This is extremely difficult as the reactions can be maintained for a sufficient amount of time. The materials required to build a fusion reactor and to sustain containment is extremely expensive as most of the technology is still experimental. Great amounts of energy energy are required to begin and sustain the fusion reactions and therefore is not currently economical. In the event that a malfunction occurs in the reactor, the plasma will react with the containment structure and cause it to become radioactive. This causes a problem for the handling and disposal of that waste. Also, there are by-products created by the regular fusion process, in the form of radioactive materials.
[Biomass Energy] [Fission Energy] [Fusion Energy] [Geothermal Energy] [Hydro Electricity] [Hydrogen Fuel Cell] [Solar Energy] [Sonoluminescence Energy] [Tidal Energy] [Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion] [Wave Energy] [Wind Energy]