• Question: What is a nuclear fusion reactor???

    Asked by anon-201316 to Meirin on 8 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Meirin Oan Evans

      Meirin Oan Evans answered on 8 Mar 2019:

      Another scientist in the Nuclear Zone, George, works on nuclear fusion, so would be better suited to answer this question! So I suggest you ask him. I can try answer the question if you like though?

Comments

  • Photo: Emily

    Emily commented on :

    I’m gonna jump in because I love fusion!
    Traditional reactors get energy by splitting heavy nuclei into smaller bits by firing neutrons at them, this is called nuclear fission and it’s what we currently use in all our reactors.
    Instead fusion gets two really light nuclei and forces them together into one larger nucleus, which also produces energy (for quantum reasons which would take a while to explain…) this process is the same one happening in the sun!
    It also produces a lot of less waste and doesn’t make any carbon emissions, so it could be the solution to stopping global warming. 😀
    But we haven’t managed to perfect it yet. @George could probably tell you more about the problems stopping fusion from being made into a practical energy source.