The Viability of Fission and Fusion for our Planet

The Viability of Fission and Fusion
For our planet

As the global population increases exponentially, having passed six billion in 1999, the world population is expected to be 8.9 billion by the year 2050. The worlds energy consumption will increase by an estimated 54 percent by 2025. Energy demand in the industrialized world is projected to grow 1.2 percent per year. Energy is a critical component of sustained economic growth and improved standards of living. One of the major requirements for sustaining human progress is an adequate source of energy. As the world’s technological enhancements and standards of living improve, so too does their appetite for electricity.

The largest sources of energy at the moment are the combustion of fossil fuels; coal, oil and natural gas. Fossils fuels account for nearly 88 % of the world's energy needs, with Oil at 41 percent, Coal providing 24 percent, and natural gas, the remaining 22 percent.

In the next five-hundred years, the globe will need a considerable increase of energy.

Nuclear Fission

Fission is a nuclear process that takes place in the nucleus of an atom. It is a process whereby a nucleus of a heavy, neutron enriched atom, usually Uranium-235 (U-235), splits into two or more smaller nuclei. This process releases substantial amounts of energy as a by-product.

In a common reaction in a nuclear reactor a nucleus of U-235 captures a neutron and then undergoes a fission event releasing two or three neutrons of about 14 MeV (Mega electron Volts) energy. A pair of fission products is formed which is accompanied by the release of huge amounts of energy (100 million to several hundred million electron volts of energy).

Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear Fusion is the energy-producing process which takes place continuously in the sun and stars. In the core of the sun at temperatures of 10-15 million degrees Celsius, Hydrogen is converted to Helium providing enough energy to sustain life on earth.

On earth, the most suitable use of fusion occurs when the nuclei of heavy isotopes of hydrogen - Deuterium (D) and Tritium (T) join and form a larger nucleus. At the temperatures required for the Deuterium-Tritium fusion reaction, the fuel has changed its state from gas to Plasma. Scientific advancements on how fusion reactions can be contained need to be made before we can use fusion as a practical source of energy.

The basic ...

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... fission has the ability to make a long-lasting major contribution but suffers from problems of public and political acceptability. Fusion offers an additional, secure, virtually resource-unlimited, source of supply, with important environmental advantages. Because of the environmental advantages summarised above, there should be no constraints on grounds of public acceptance to the widespread, intensive and indefinite deployment of fusion power.

Considering the fact that fusion possesses environmental and safety advantages over all current alternatives for electricity sources, its development is a very important component in any strategy designed to allow economic growth to continue world-wide in the longer term, without generating major global environmental deterioration. Thus the case for investing a small part of our current output in the development of fusion is an aspect of the more general case for sustainable development. Involvement in the world-wide programme to bring fusion technology to a commercially usable state is a wise contribution to sustainable development. Fusion technology brought to completion would be an asset of the utmost value to give to our descendants.