This is why fusion is still in the research and development phase – and fission is already making electricity. To initiate the fusion reaction (3.1), the charged deuterium and tritium nuclei must get close enough for the strong nuclear force to act and bind the helium. The reasons that have made fusion so difficult to achieve to date are the same ones that make it safe: it is a finely balanced reaction which is very sensitive to the conditions – the reaction will die if the plasma is too cold or too hot, or if there is too much fuel or not enough, or too many contaminants, or if the magnetic fields are not set up just right to control the turbulence of the hot plasma. Nuclear fuel costs for nuclear plants are a minor proportion of total. Unlike nuclear fission, the nuclear fusion reaction in a tokamak is an inherently safe reaction. Nuclear power is cost competitive with other forms of electricity generation. In conventional nuclear power stations today, there are systems in place to moderate the chain reactions to prevent accident scenarios and stringent security measures to deal with proliferation issues. While fission and fusion are both key components of nuclear technology, the two processes are very different and central to the plot of 'Oppenheimer. On the high end is solar power at 130 per MWh, and gas at the low end at 64 per MWh. This chain reaction is the key to fission reactions, but it can lead to a runaway process resulting in nuclear accidents. Among the three options shown, nuclear power is right in the middle, with total costs in 2012 of about 96 per megawatt hour (MWh), most of which involves capital construction costs. The result of the instability is the nucleus breaking up, in any one of many different ways, and producing more neutrons, which in turn hit more uranium atoms and make them unstable and so on. It is triggered by uranium absorbing a neutron, which renders the nucleus unstable. Fission and chain reactionsįission is the nuclear process that is currently run in nuclear power plants. We calculated that even at a cost of 22 billion, the resulting cost of a power plant based on ITER would be approximately ten times the cost of a nuclear fission power plant, and nuclear fission power plants are considered to be too expensive for further adoption in the U.S. Both reactions release energy which, in a power plant, would be used to boil water to drive a steam generator, thus producing electricity. However, fusion is combining light atoms, for example two hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium, to form the heavier helium. Fusion: Whats the Difference Download this infographic on fission and fusion or the individual fact cutouts below. Office of Nuclear Energy Infographic: Fission vs. Skip to main content Enter the terms you wish to search for. ![]() ![]() ![]() In fission, energy is gained by splitting heavy atoms, for example uranium, into smaller atoms such as iodine, caesium, strontium, xenon and barium, to name just a few. Infographic that explains the difference between fission and fusion.
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