The biggest experimental nuclear fusion reactor in operation was inaugurated north of Tokyo today, as scientists continue to plug away at making nuclear fusion a viable source of the world’s energy. Nuclear fusion is often referred to as the holy grail of energy research, because if economical fusion reactions were realized it would greatly reduce—if altogether eliminate—humankind’s reliance on fossil fuels. The new reactor, along with its counterpart currently under construction in Europe, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), are merely experiments to prove the technological feasibility of fusion at scale. Nuclear fusion can be done in different ways, but it is regardless a much cleaner process than nuclear fission. The running joke about scalable nuclear fusion is that it is always just over the horizon—maybe 30, 50 years from now.

Source: The Nation December 02, 2023 08:32 UTC