Nuclear Fusion can be Harnessed
12/2/15, Easton Kilgore
Introduction
Nuclear fusion was once considered power only available to our sun and other stars, but there is a way that we can also harness that power. I've developed a machine that can put two atoms close enough to produce a tremendous amount of power. Never before has nuclear fusion been accomplished by man, until today.
How it Produces Energy
The machine that I've created, Combinomatic 2.0, launches atoms at an incredibly fast speed, so fast that when they collide, their nucleus joins together as one. In this process, matter leaves as photons (energy). This differs from nuclear fission, because in fission, the nucleus splits apart, and gets smaller and smaller. Both methods produce lots of energy, but nuclear fusion is the combination of two atoms, rather than the splitting of just one.
Safety Concerns
Nuclear fusion has much less of an effect on the environment and workers than fission does. Firstly, it doesn't produce long-living radioactive waste, so a breach in a fusion plant wouldn't produce catastrophic conditions, and local communities wouldn't need to evacuate. Uranium and Plutonium aren't needed in the Combinomatic 2.0, and the worst fuel used in this process has a half life of less than 13 years. After 100 years of leaving a nuclear fusion machine alone, it wouldn't be producing more radiation than a coal-power machine.
However, nuclear fusion still creates radiation on the environment, workers, and local communities, even if it is less so than nuclear fission. In the event of a breach, nearby ecosystems and wildlife would die out to the radiation. The effects aren't near the power of Chernobyl, though.
Future Prospects
Nuclear fusion is what the sun uses to produce energy, and it ensures life on our planet. Nuclear fusion has the potential to put many fossil fuels out of the market, and take its spot. If more research and power plants were made for nuclear fusion, we could eventually have nuclear powered engines, machines, and much more. The energy market would skyrocket, as entrepreneurs struggle to create the most energy plants, which require less money to make than fission plants. An entire market could erupt from nuclear fusion, if research on it could continue.