The Wishful Thinking of Nuclear Fusion Energy
“I would like nuclear fusion to become a practical power source. It would provide an inexhaustible supply of energy, without pollution or global warming.”—Stephen Hawking
By L. J. Reinders
Don’t expect scientists to harness the power of nuclear fusion anytime soon. Fusion occurs when atomic nuclei join to create a heavier atom, releasing power that lights up the stars, including the star we call the sun. Researchers have a lot of challenges to meet before they can control that process efficiently on Earth and use the resulting energy to light up homes. But they continue to try. JET laboratory in the United Kingdom announced in February that scientists there doubled their previous record by squeezing together two forms of hydrogen...
