Over the past few years, scientists have pushed us closer to unlocking nuclear fusion as a clean, efficient, and limitless source of energy. Nuclear fusion is well-represented by its name; it’s the process of fusing two atomic nuclei together. This is the same process performed by stars, which have an immense gravitational force from their large mass. This extreme force results in two atoms converging to form a different element or isotope and releasing energy.

But where did this energy come from? If humans already use nuclear fission, which breaks one atom into two atoms, to make energy, then how does fusing two atoms also release energy? Well, these reactions are not direct opposites of each other, and there are ways to produce energy using both methods.

Fission, at least in the way used by humans to produce energy, uses an unstable isotope of an element, such as Uranium 235. Unstable atoms release energy when they reach a more stable form, so nuclear power plants initiate a controlled chain reaction that converts U-235 to more stable products. Forming stable products releases energy, but the main source of energy comes from the mass defect, which is also seen in fusion. Einstein’s famous equation, E=mc², relates energy and mass, meaning that mass can turn into energy and vice versa. In these reactions, the product formed has less mass than the reactants, and that lost mass was converted into energy.

Fusion has many upsides, including its safety, renewability, and the fact that it doesn’t produce radioactive waste, unlike fission. However, it’s a lot less accessible, since it’s not simple to replicate the sheer gravitational force and scale of the sun. The sun combines hydrogen atoms to form deuterium, then tritium, which are isotopes of hydrogen with more neutrons, then H-4, with three neutrons. The formation of deuterium is actually extremely rare, but still occurs regularly in the sun due to its scale. Researchers can skip this step by fusing deuterium and tritium to form H-4, but these isotopes are not nearly as abundant as H-1. Tritium is rare, expensive, and radioactive, which presents a challenge in obtaining fuel. However, there are more pressing issues when it comes to fusion technology, like getting it to work in the first place.

Getting enough energy to get the reaction going is not easy. Ignition, where the reaction is able to sustain itself, is reached with the power of gravitational force in the sun, but that’s not a viable option on Earth. Instead of using gravitational confinement to compress the fuel, as seen in the sun, researchers have tested magnetic confinement, which uses magnetism to hold the fuel in place, and inertial confinement, which uses lasers to heat the fuel hot enough so the atoms react before they are pushed away. In 2022, researchers achieved ignition using inertial confinement, a major breakthrough for nuclear fusion. 

The reaction achieved in 2022 was so notable because it produced more energy than was provided by the lasers. This makes it seem like fusion is ready for commercial energy production, except that current laser technology is extremely inefficient. Although less energy was put into the fuel than produced, the lasers required significantly more energy than they channeled into the reaction, so it was still a net decrease in energy.

If laser technology were 100% efficient, fusion would be feasible, but current advancements are a long way off, leading scientists to investigate other possibilities. Magnetic confinement uses its fuel in the form of plasma, which is charged, and keeps it contained using powerful magnets. One fusion company, Helion Energy, is combining magnetic and inertial confinement strategies, and intends to use Helium-3 rather than the costly hydrogen isotopes. With funding from Microsoft and OpenAI, Helion believes it will start producing energy through fusion by 2028 and produce at least 50 megawatts from it just a year later. This date precedes standard expectations for fusion energy by decades, so it would be a stunning breakthrough if this date is met.

Happy 100th Synopsis! I’m so proud of myself for maintaining this habit, which I’ve learned so much from, and of you, for learning with me! This is not the first or last time I will harp on about how important it is to stay educated, and it means a lot that you’re spending your time paying attention to the global issues I’ve been researching, because attention is the first step in change. Whether it be to support me or keep yourself sharp, thank you for staying with me in this journey. It means a lot to know I’m not just shouting into the void, especially on nights like these, where I tried to talk to my dad about his promise to pay for my college education (spoiler alert: he is not keeping it).

I can’t believe it’s been two years since I last discussed nuclear fusion, but it makes sense considering how much time this technology requires to develop. I maintain the statement I asserted two years ago; fusion probably won’t be powering our homes until decades from now, but I’m so excited for the day our technology gets there. That is, unless Helion Energy is able to get things up and running in just three years, which would be incredible!

I originally intended this post to focus on recent advancements in fusion from the past few years, but things have been pretty quiet, at least in terms of technology. I decided I would spend a little extra time explaining what we already know and what we have been working on, so when new developments occur, we can understand where they came from.

Doing research on new technology reminds me about how important investments are for getting things off the ground. Think about how much money is invested in fossil fuels by the banks I covered a few months ago. Imagine how far those funds would take us if invested in revolutionary technology like this. It would save us so much time burning fossil fuels and using less efficient renewables. I think clean energy like wind is incredible, but it’s nowhere near as efficient as technology like fusion or superhot rock promises to be. I know it will take a long time, and it’s always risky to invest in new tech. I’m not saying we should be naive, but waiting for decades to improve how we generate electricity is not sustainable. Think of all of the things we could do with clean, unlimited energy. Next week, we’ll talk about how clean energy isn’t just about phasing out coal and natural gas, so stay tuned to learn with me!

Helion: https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-buy-power-nuclear-fusion-company-helion-2023-05-10/ 

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/reuters/ – Reuters is known for a “very high” factual reporting

General information on nuclear fusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piPbnKdve9M, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGr8VaITKbA, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJTEXj1-ZR8