The Energy For Tomorrow: A Look At Nuclear Fusion

Why are we pushing for fusion energy?

Fusion energy provides a source to create vast amounts of electricity without the long lasting waste formed by coal, oil and fission making it cleaner for the environment, as long as we can make it work. These considerations are becoming increasingly important as of late due to the limited supply of fossil fuels, and the inefficiencies of other energy sources, pushing the need for innovation in fusion energy.

What is fusion?

Stars are powered by this fusion process, including our sun. Simply fusion is a process where two lighter atoms are subject to enough energy (heat and pressure) to overcome forces of repulsion between them and fuse to become a heavier atom, releasing energy in the process.[1]

The energy released in the fusion process can be calculated by Einstein's equation,

 E = mc^2, where the energy released is equal to the mass difference between the reactants and products multiplied by the speed of light squared, simply it converts a tiny bit of mass to energy.[2]

Why not stop at nuclear fission?

Commercial fusion plants would be beneficial as the reactants are very common, light hydrogen isotopes, deuterium which is commonly found in seawater as well as tritium which can be made using lithium, a very common element. This puts them a step above fission plants as fission uses heavier elements that are uncommon such as uranium in a self-sustaining chain reaction as opposed to fusion which will just stop if something goes wrong making it safer. Furthermore the fission process creates lots of long lived radioactive material due to the creation of two unstable nuclei created from one, as opposed to fusion which joins two nuclei together into the more stable helium, most often. [3][4][5]

The History Of Fusion 

Building onto previous research on exploring the nature of the atom, this resulted in combined effort of scientists during the 20th century.

Astrophysicist Eddington suggested that stars draw their energy from the fusion of hydrogen into helium.[6] After the publication of Eddington’s paper (Internal Constitution of the Stars), scientists worldwide rushed to confirm the theory and to deepen their understanding of fusion energy.[7] Later in 1939, Bethe's work on stellar nucleosynthesis tied fusion together as it provided a better understanding.[6]

Along with the arms race between superpowers (such as the U.S and Soviet Union), scientists globally rushed to replicate the process. However, containing the plasma at over 100 million degrees celsius proved to be one of science’s greatest challenges. In 1958, in the second UN conference held at Geneva, scientists unveiled nuclear fusion research to the world. [8]

A major breakthrough in 1968, where Soviet scientists created a doughnut shaped magnetic confinement device - the tokamak.[9] Thus allowing both plasma confinement times and temperature levels to be achieved.[9] However as time went it became apparent that replicating nuclear fusion would be another challenge.

Currently, efforts are focused on the common goal of recreating nuclear fusion (safely) for cleaner, sustainable energy. The largest project is the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which aims to demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of fusion power, paving the way for future electricity-generating plants.[8]

Current Steps Towards Fusion

Currently the ITER, mentioned previously and advancements in plasma physics are what is bringing us the closest to having commercial fusion plants in order to create almost endless energy. The ITER is a fusion reactor that plans to 10x its input energy as opposed to the next most efficient energy source, hydroelectric which 0.9x’s it’s input energy at the high end.

Furthermore plasma physics, an area of physics which studies a fourth state of matter essentially a gas so hot atoms move too fast, knocking off their electrons. The study of plasma physics will help us understand how to effectively operate a fusion plant, it is to fusion what aerodynamics is to planes. [10][11]

Obstacles

The main unmet challenge of fusion energy at the minute is to sustain the high temperatures and pressures required to induce fusion. These temperatures are so hot they are usually only found in the cores of stars. This challenge can be broken into 2 parts, initially in creating and maintaining the tens or hundreds of millions of degrees required to induce fusion and secondarily in creating a structure capable of handling these conditions for extended periods of time, challenges aimed toward plasma physicists and engineers. [3][12]

Why this matters?

The introduction of fusion energy in commercial plants will help us meet goals for the climate, reduce our reliance on the ever diminishing fossil fuels and make room for new jobs in sciences and engineering.

As of now, fusion remains to be the gold standard of energy production for the future regardless of current obstacles due to generating energy similar to the sun in a very efficient and highly scalable way. However for now it remains a goal to be met and one that can help be met by those studying STEM right now.

References

1. Barbarino M. What is Nuclear Fusion? [Internet]. International Atomic Energy Agency. 2023. Available from: https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/what-is-nuclear-fusion/

2. What is Fusion? - American Fusion Project [Internet]. American Fusion Project. 2017 [cited 2025 Nov 7]. Available from: https://americanfusionproject.org/what-is-fusion/

3. Najmabadi F. fusion reactor | Description, History, Uses, & Facts | Britannica. In: Encyclopædia Britannica [Internet]. 2019 [cited 2025 Nov 7]. Available from: https://www.britannica.com/technology/fusion-reactor/

4. Understanding the Difference Between Nuclear Fission and Fusion Technologies | Nuclear Regulatory Commission [Internet]. Nrc.gov. 2025. Available from: https://www.nrc.gov/materials/fusion/fission-vs-fusion

5. Fusion Energy [Internet]. Energy.gov. 2024 [cited 2025 Nov 7]. Available from: https://www.energy.gov/topics/fusion-energy

6. EUROFusion. History of Fusion [Internet]. EUROfusion. 2023 [cited 2025 Nov 7]. Available from: https://euro-fusion.org/fusion/history-of-fusion/

7. A History of Fusion [Internet]. US Fusion Energy. [cited 2025 Nov 7]. Available from: https://usfusionenergy.org/history-fusion

8. Chatzis I, Barbarino M. What is Fusion, and Why Is It So Difficult to Achieve? [Internet]. International Atomic Energy Agency. 2021 [cited 2025 Nov 7]. Available from: https://www.iaea.org/bulletin/what-is-fusion-and-why-is-it-so-difficult-to-achieve

9. ITER. 60 years of progress [Internet]. ITER - the way to new energy. 2023 [cited 2025 Nov 7]. Available from: https://www.iter.org/fusion-energy/60-years-progress

10. ITER - the way to new energy [Internet]. ITER. [cited 2025 Nov 7]. Available from: https://www.iter.org

11. Fusion Energy | Scottish Universities Physics Alliance [Internet]. Supa. 2020 [cited 2025 Nov 7]. Available from: https://www.supa.ac.uk/Research/energy/nuclear-energy/fusion-energy

12. Cohen-Tanugi D, Stapelberg MG, Short MP, Ferry SE, Whyte DG, Hartwig ZS, et al. Long-Term Research & Design Strategies for Fusion Energy Materials [Internet]. ArXiv. 2023 [cited 2025 Nov 7]. Available from: https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.12187