Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Fusion

     Fusion energy seems to be the most promising energy source of the not-too-distant future. It is safe, it uses an energy supply that is so abundant that it will never run out, it gives off harmless waste, and it produces energy comparable to the Earth's sun! But are there any problems with this hopeful energy source?

Process of nuclear fusion release enormous about of energy It is a nuclear reaction where two atoms collide at a very high speed and join two crate a new type of atom .It needs two atomic nuclei to make a large nucleus it needs energy to make this happen though. Things that use this reaction are the sun and the stars to release energy.

Fusion centers will contribute to state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies in many different ways. The main contribution is the coordination of all agencies exchanging real time information, packaged up and sent out to the individuals on the street. That information can now be accessed by anyone working a particular case. In turn this information can help to resolve a potential crime before it happens or help to apprehend a potential suspect.

In the modern world, nuclear fission is the fundamental process of a nuclear bomb and nuclear reactor. The reaction produces a chain reaction of atom splitting that produces 24,000,000 kilowatts per hour of energy. On the other hand, nuclear fusion is a reaction where two or more nuclei come close enough to one another to create one or more atomic nuclei and subatomic nuclei. As a result, this reaction produces a massive amount of energy; fusion reaction is the energy source of the sun, the energy produced by fusion is the answer to why the sun is hot.

Nuclear energy is the energy that is released during nuclear fission or fusion also called a nuclear reaction. It is used to generate electricity energy is produced when a nucleus absorbs a neutron and splits into two lighter nuclei. The atoms consist of an electron cloud and a nucleus. (nuclearinfo.net)

2. The sun is successful in providing energy via fusion reactions because its energy output comes from nuclear burning. Nuclear burning is the transformation of 4 million tons of matter into energy every second.

All power plants use fission and to make heat that will be used to make power. Fusion is the two atoms hydrogen and helium which make a heavier atom. This reactor can make more energy and will also not make waste like the fission reactors. Fusion reactors even though not existent are still a highly popular idea

Fusion fuel is plentiful with hundreds of thousands of years worth just sitting in the ocean and in the atmosphere, albeit you would still be required to refine it to its basic elements. Nevertheless, fusion technology is barely able to break even. Not to mention the fact that ignition, or the point at which a fusion reaction is self-sustaining, still eludes scientists. If I were to continue research about nuclear fusion, I would look into the specifics of atomic fusion and how fusion technology has gotten more efficient over the years. Despite my previous ideas and beliefs about nuclear fusion, I have learned that alone, fusion would be an impracticality. You would still need other sources of energy to supply the bulk of people who would not need the same capacity of electricity a city needs. Accepting this allowed me to see why some people oppose nuclear fusion after learning about what it is. Not every person would reap the rewards of the technology, and for countless people, it would take upwards of a few decades to possibly reach them. Although this makes sense to me, I still do believe that fusion research is a must and would eventually benefit everyone. We still need to innovate new energy sources, and although fusion should be one of them and disregarding it would be a disastrous idea, we should also work on achieving better and more efficient solar and wind energy for the betterment of the

Nuclear energy was likewise discovered to be useful in naval tactics and in sourcing electricity. As technology has significantly advanced and knowledge has expanded beyond measures, the realm of nuclear engineering has indeed achieved scientific milestones. In practice of modern times, nuclear energy is manufactured within power plants, capable of supporting an outstanding amount of electricity (World Nuclear Association). However, this limited method of energy production is thought to be dangerous. Nuclear engineering is certainly one complex subject and is foreign to the majority of the world population. Within a nuclear power plant, reactors are employed to force uranium ions to undergo the process of nuclear fission; nuclear fission is the separation of atoms, the smallest unit of matter. This splitting of uranium ions releases energy, thus, producing usable heat. Heat is crucial to not only nuclear energy production; rather, heat is necessary in all power plants. Such will then become the steam that gyrates turbines. These turbines are coupled with electromagnets which, finally, yield electricity (How Nuclear Reactors Work). One foremost flaw of nuclear power is the consequential radioactive waste that must be monitored for a long while following disposal. Nevertheless, as resources upon this planet are surely depleting, original forms of energy production are mandatory. In consideration of such, nuclear power plants have proved to be both efficient

The vast majority if our current energy needs are met with fossil fuels like natural gas, coal, and petroleum. It is no secret that these sources of energy are very limited in their abundance and humans have been trying to find viable alternatives for decades. In recent years we have made great strides in renewables such as solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, and much more. But what about a seemingly infinite source of energy that would make even the most efficient of our current sources seem like child’s play in comparison and that has the potential fuel source to run solely on isotopes of the most abundant element in the universe? Nuclear fusion has the potential to meet all of our current energy need in the foreseeable future and much more.

Each atom of a particle element the majority of the time look and behave the same as any other atom of the same element. When comparing two atoms of Carbon for example, they both contain the same number of protons and electrons. In this case the both contain 6 protons. The equal number of protons and neutrons in this atom creates stability in its nucleus. The two atoms of carbon also have the same mass, approximately 12 amu, but like all things in nature there are exceptions. A different atom of carbon can contain 8 neutrons in its nucleus for every 6 protons. When an atom of an element contains more or less neutrons to protons an unstable environment is now created in the atom which is called a radioactive isotope. The loss of a neutron in the nucleus of an atom emits energy which can also be referred to as radiation. What makes these radioactive isotopes so different between stable atoms is the energy that is released through the loss of the extra neutron in the atom in an attempt to stabilize.

Firstly, high thermal energies are needed to achieve controlled fusion. High temperature enable the particles to overcome the Coulomb barrier, the energy barrier due to electrostatic interaction that two nuclei need to overcome so they can get close enough to undergo a nuclear reaction. This energy barrier of the electrostatic potential energy is that temperature must be maintained for a sufficient confinement time and with a sufficient ion density in order to obtain a net yield of energy from a fusion reaction. A necessary part in nuclear fusion is plasma, which is a mixture of atomic nuclei and electrons that are required to initiate a self-sustaining reaction which requires a temperature of more than 40,000,000 K.

In 2013, the IAEA report that there are 437 operational nuclear power reactors, in 31 countries, although not every reactor is producing electricity. In addition, there are approximately 140 naval vessels using nuclear propulsion in operation, powered by some 180 reactors. As of 2013, attaining a net energy gain from sustained nuclear fusion reactions, excluding natural fusion power sources such as the Sun, remains an ongoing area of international physics and engineering research. More than 60 years after the first attempts, commercial fusion power production remains unlikely before 2050.

With the world’s supply of fossil fuels declining, alternative sources of power are an important issue in the minds of scientists and world leaders alike. While everyone scrambles to find the most effective way to harness solar, wind, and water power, they forget about a form of producing energy that has been researched for 70 years and is only a hair's breadth from being usable(26). Fusion, the same power that fuels the sun, could fuel the world’s homes and cars. A 1000 megawatt coal-fired power plant requires 2.7 million tons of coal per year(21) whereas proposed fusion power plant designs only require 250 kilos of fuel per year to produce more power(22).That’s 1/10800000 of the fuel required to run a coal-fired plant. Even with all fusion could accomplish, funding for it has been cut dramatically in the past few years because of the inability of scientists to attain sustained fusion. Fusion is the key to ending our dependence on coal, oil, and natural gas because sustained fusion would produce 4 million times the energy that current methods produce and the fuel is harmless and readily available.(thesis statement)

Nuclear energy is an alternative source of energy that holds great amounts of energy and is one of the future sources of energy for this world. “Nuclear energy is energy in the nucleus (core) of an atom. There is enormous energy in the bonds that hold the nucleus together. Energy is released when those bonds are broken” (Uranium). Unlike a chemical reaction with fossil fuels, nuclear reactions create an even greater amount of energy than fossil fuels. “Nuclear energy can be used to make electricity, but first it must be released it can be released from atoms in two ways: nuclear fusion and nuclear fission” (Uranium). Nuclear energy already provides 1/5 of all the energy in the U.S.,