Fusion generates four times more energy per kilogramme of fuel than fission and nearly four million times more energy than burning oil and coal. The current level of international commitment is bringing us closer to a fusion future than ever before. The IAEA is facilitating international coordination and sharing best practices in projects globally. In this edition of the IAEA Bulletin, you can read about the efforts of governments and about the growing involvement of the private sector in fusion.
Five hundred years ago, the Aztec civilization in today’s Mexico believed that the sun and all its power was sustained by blood from human sacrifice. Today, we know that the sun, along with all other stars, is powered by a reaction called nuclear fusion.
Achieving a fusion reaction is not particularly difficult: in 2018, a twelve-year-old entered the Guinness World Records as the youngest person to successfully create a fusion experiment at home.
Laser fusion is a method of igniting nuclear fusion reactions and is a potential alternative to magnetic confinement.
Weighing 23 000 tonnes and standing at nearly 30 metres tall, ITER will be an impressive sight to behold.
While nuclear fission derives energy from splitting atomic nuclei, nuclear fusion does so by joining them, releasing energy in the process.
Scientists have been touting the potential of fusion energy since the 1920s, but until very recently commercial fusion had remained a distant dream.