INNOVATION January-February 2012

f ea t u r e s

Seeking an Energy Future with Fusion

Images courtesy of General Fusion

David R Conn

Nuclear fusion is the reaction that powers stars, including our Sun. The extreme heat and gravity in its core create plasma where hydrogen nuclei, stripped of their electrons, constantly collide and fuse together. This violent reaction converts them into deuterium nuclei, then helium nuclei, while releasing neutrons and other subatomic particles, plus a staggering amount of energy. A BC company, General Fusion, is working to develop fusion as a clean and affordable source of electric power. The company hopes to succeed with a unique approach to this long-standing scientific and technological challenge.

Unlocking the secrets of Fusion Scientists have achieved fusion very briefly in laboratories, with Cold War fears leading the US and Soviet governments to fund research to unlock the energy secrets of fusion. In the 1950s, US physicists invented the hydrogen bomb—a combination of nuclear fission and fusion. As nuclear fission was adapted to generate electric power, nuclear- capable nations thought to do the same with fusion. However, generations of scientists have discovered hurdles to creating power from fusion.

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