Summary

Chapter 14, “Controlled Fusion,” is divided into three sections that discuss the potential future of nuclear reactors. Many physicists would like to see nuclear power plants shift from operating based on fission to operating based on fusion. Fission is a process in which energy is created by breaking apart sub-atomic bonds, and is currently used in nuclear reactors. Fusion is when energy is created by making bond, adding another particle to the nucleus. If heavy hydrogen, deuterium which has two neutrons and tritium which has three, can be forced to come together, they form helium, releasing power in the same way that the sun does. This has been a goal of physics for decades, and while there are a few different methods through which it has been achieved in small laboratory settings, it has not yet been put into practical use.

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