Nuclear+fusion+-+Gerard

BACK TO YEAR 11 PRESENTATIONS
=NUCLEAR FUSION = ===Ever thought about how stars are made and how they keep shining for millions of years? Well the answer is nuclear fusion. Our Sun pumps about 386 billion million gigawatts into space and it does it through nuclear fusion.===

What is nuclear fusion?
Before I tell you anything about nuclear fusion you need to know what it is and how it works. So nuclear fusion is a very modern, new way of making energy. The only things nuclear fusion uses are isotopes of hydrogen, Deuterium and Tritium. The only thing that needs to happen is the two isotopes need to join together to form an atom of Helium-4 and a neutron giving out a lot of energy meanwhile. Sounds easy to do huh? Before being able to make energy using nuclear fusion there are many conditions that you need to think of:

Conditions

 * 1. Heat:** It is very hard to make these atoms collide because since the neutrons of both are positive they repel each other. To stop them from repelling it requires a lot of heat. And by a lot I'm talking about 100 million Kelvin (99 999 727 degrees celcius, about six times hotter than the Sun's core)! So then you must be thinking, how does the Sun keep shining. That's only because of its large mass and its force of gravity. At these temperatures hydrogen is no more a gas, it is now plasma. Plasma is a high energy state of matter in which all the electrons are stripped from atoms and move freely about. The only way we humans can achieve that temperature is by using energy from microwaves, lasers and ion particles.
 * 2. Pressure:** The isotopes have to be incredibly close for them to join together and make a Helium-4 atom. And again by incredibly close I mean 1x10^-15 meters close (0.000000000000001m which equals 1 femtometer). The sun uses its mass and the force of gravity to squeeze hydrogen atoms together in its core. We must use intense magnetic fields, powerful lasers or ion beams to squeeze the hydrogen atoms so closely together.

An example in the world
As nuclear fusion is a very modern source of energy, there is only one plant that is under construction and it is being built in France, specifically Cadarache, in the southern region of Provence. Construction started in 2007 and officials hope to set up a demonstration power plant by 2040!

Energy Changes
This process of making energy has quite a few energy changes but they are fairly simple to understand. The basic chain is: **POTENTIAL ENERGY ==> KINETIC ENERGY ==> HEAT ENERGY ==> ELECTRICAL ENERGY This is the basic changes. It starts off with the gravitational potential energy in the atoms. This is then converted into kinetic energy and the atoms move around very fast. When they collide this gives out a lot of heat energy which is then captured and turned into electrical energy.

**Facts and Figures** ** This source of energy is a very modern one and as I said before the first plant is still under construction. It cost over $11 billion to build the fusion plant! Officials believe that building this power plant will create around 10,000 jobs. The reactor would run on an isotope of hydrogen, a virtually boundless fuel as it can be extracted from water.

Effects on environment
When you talk about nuclear power most people think that it is really bad for the environment and they imagine big cylinders with smoke coming out. Well not at all. Nuclear fusion is the cleanest non-renewable source of energy. It produces no greenhouse gasses whatsoever meaning that the ozone layer can live in peace with it and it produces a low level of nuclear waste, lower than that made in nuclear fission. So nuclear fusion doesn't harm the environment as much as all the other non-renewable source of energy.

This is a picture of ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) used for nuclear fusion:

**Some Advantages and Disadvantages**

Advantages

 * There is an abundant source of fuel
 * Doesn't pollute the air
 * Low levels of radioactive waste

Disadvantages

 * Very expensive
 * Uses latest technology and not researched enough technology
 * We are far from being able to guarantee something like Chernobyl or Three Mile Island won't happen again