no production of long-lived, highly radiotoxic products
very low fuel inventory in the reactor during operation and to the rapid cooling that extinguishes the fusion reactions should a malfunction occur.
In less than 100 years the residual activity of these materials would be less than the radiotoxicity found in the waste from a conventional coal-fired power station.
Fusion power does not produce any greenhouse gases
To generate 7 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, a 1000-megawatt fusion power station would consume about 100 kg of deuterium and three tonnes of lithium per year. This compares to the 1.5 million tonnes of coal in an equivalent fossil-fuel plant.
For the first time, fuel for a nuclear fusion reaction has generated more energy than put into it – a scientific milestone.
Deuterium and tritium were coated inside the capsule at the centre of this photo
However, he was quick to point out that because the fuel absorbed only a small amount of the energy from the lasers, there is still far more energy put into the entire process than comes out.
92 powerful lasers to crush a minuscule amount of fuel so hard and fast that it becomes hotter than the sun.
The lasers are fired into a gold capsule that holds a 2mm-wide spherical pellet.
The fuel is coated on the inside of this plastic pellet in a layer as thin as a human hair.
When the laser light enters the gold capsule, it makes the walls of the gold container emit x-rays, which heat the pellet and make it implode with extraordinary ferocity. The fuel, a mixture of hydrogen isotopes called tritium and deuterium, partially fuses under the intense conditions.