Nuclear Fusion: New Record - Printable Version

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If successfully scaled up to commercial levels it could produce endless amounts of clean energy without carbon emissions. And crucially unlike wind and solar energy would not be at the mercy of weather conditions.



But as Dr Aneeqa Khan, Research Fellow in Nuclear Fusion, University of Manchester explained, this is not straightforward.



"In order for the atoms to fuse together on Earth, we need temperatures ten times hotter than the Sun - around 100 million celsius, and we need a high enough density of the atoms and for a long enough time," she explained.



The experiments produced 69 megajoules of energy over five seconds. That is only enough energy for four to five hot baths - so not a lot.



It is clear we are still a long way off from nuclear fusion power plants, but with every experiment it is bringing us one step closer.