Nuclear Fusion Press Release
By Stephanie Reid
Date of Discovery
In the year of 1930, the discovery of Nuclear Fusion is now open to the public.
Overview of Discovery
Hans Bethe discovered Nuclear Fusion. At first it was very difficult to obtain the key because you need many different degrees of temperatures to test in, but physicists sought to contain the hot plasma with magnetic fields, using, for example the pinch effect where electric currents moving in the same direction attract each other through their magnetic fields. This approach was called “magnetic confinement”.
Source For Image Above
How nuclear fusion produces energy
Fission is the division of one atom into two and Fusion is the combination of two lighter atoms into a larger one. Fusion takes place when two low-mass isotopes, typically isotopes of hydrogen, unite under conditions of extreme pressure and temperature. Fusion is what powers the sun.
Read more about it here: http://nuclear.duke-energy.com/2013/01/30/fission-vs-fusion-whats-the-difference/
Safety Concerns and Precautions When Using Nuclear Fusion
“Meltdowns”
The Production of Radioactive Waste
Release of Tritium
Economic Impact of Discovery Including Energy Rates, Conventional Energy Markets, and Future Prospects For a World Without Current Energy Limitations.
- Nuclear power is cost competitive with other forms of electricity generation, except where there is direct access to low-cost fossil fuels.
Fuel costs for nuclear plants are a minor proportion of total generating costs, though capital costs are greater than those for coal-fired plants and much greater than those for gas-fired plants.
Providing incentives for long-term, high-capital investment in deregulated markets driven by short-term price signals presents a challenge in securing a diversified and reliable electricity supply system.
In assessing the economics of nuclear power, decommissioning and waste disposal costs are fully taken into account.
Nuclear power plant construction is typical of large infrastructure projects around the world, whose costs and delivery challenges tend to be under-estimated.
Read more about it here: http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/economic-aspects/economics-of-nuclear-power/