The truth about nuclear fusion power - new breakthroughs

The truth about nuclear fusion power. It's the holy grail for the ultimate clean energy power source. Virtually limitless clean power that’s fueled by sea water, and is much safer than the nuclear fission reactors that we have today. What’s not to like? Perhaps that it's always billed as being "30 years away." With all of the breakthroughs in recent years it's worth taking a closer look.

Watch next:

CORRECTION: Emeritus Professor Heinrich Hora is from the University of New South Whales in Sydney, Australia, not the University of South Whales.

Follow-up podcast:

Additional reading:

--------------------

▶ ▶ ▶ ADDITIONAL INFO ◀ ◀ ◀

▻ Support us on Patreon!

▻ Check out my podcast - Still To Be Determined:

▻ Tesla and smart home gear I really like:

▻ Undecided Amazon store front:



▻ Great Tesla Accessories
From Abstract Ocean - 15% Discount - Code: "Undecided"

▻ Jeda Wireless phone charger:

▻ Get 1,000 miles of free supercharging with a new Tesla:

PLEASE NOTE: For the Abstract Ocean discount you may have to click on the "cart" button, then "view bag" to enter the coupon code manually. Be sure to enter "undecided" there if you don't see the discount automatically applied.

All Amazon links are part of their affiliate program.

Thanks so much for your support!
--------------------

▶ ▶ ▶ GET IN TOUCH ◀ ◀ ◀

▻ X
▻ Instagram
▻ Facebook
▻ Website

--------------------

▻ Audio file(s) provided by Epidemic Sound

[FailTrainS]

Small Correction - Fission reactions occur all the time in nature. Literally every radioactive element is a fission process. It just normally isn't in high enough concentrations to be a runaway reaction.

[nikolatesla]

I was an intern at the General Atomics Fusion Lab in the 1970's in Torrey Pines.
The Russian tokamak configuration was utilized. Dr. Tihiro Ohkawa headed up the Japanese Team, which was collaborating with the American Team, headed by Dr John Landis. Dr Ohkawa envisioned the Doublet II where the Tokamak Donut-shaped plasma was modified so the cross-section, instead of an oval, it became an hourglass.
The international fusion research community was so full of promise at that time, then Jimmy Carter cut the long-term research projects budget. Most of us graduate students got out of High-Energy Physics at that point.

[jaketruman]

Shrimp: punches water so hard that light comes out... Humans: “Write that down.”

[lordofentropy]

"Don't expect your home to be fusion powered in the next 10 or 20 years." - I'm guessing we'll have fusion reactors powering our homes in 30 years 😃

[ppipowerclass]

Tony Stark built this in a cave! With a box of scraps!

[shooter]

I have been working on fusion projects since 1986. (With the exception of 5 years I spent at Aerojet working on in space propulsion) I really appreciated this video because I could show this to my family members and it gave them a better idea of what I do for a living. I work on FRC’s.

[Hitchclif]

"The space elevator will be ready 50 years after everyone's done laughing"

[jameshoffman]

5:22 Of course Homer Simpson would love it — He’s a Nuclear Safety Inspector

[georgefan]

I’m so inspired to work in this field, one of the most important steps towards an interstellar civilisation

[badkarma]

I can hear it now "oh my god, they are going to drain the oceans"

[Cinezaster]

thx for this overview.
I'm a big believer in fusion. The world need this to get rid of our fossil fuel addiction.

[theotherandrew]

The idea of direct electric power from the reaction looks like a really massive game changer.

[neptunevibe]

They said we are 30 years away when I was 15, now I'm 55.. and they say still 30 away.. I don't have much time.

[videosbymathew]

An important distinction between stars and reactors. The video implies that fusion in stars happens when two atoms 'slam together'. What actually happens is that two atoms can get close enough together that sometimes they will quantum tunnel past the electrostatic force and are then able to fuse. Otherwise they never meet. Given the vast amount of atoms in a star this happens frequently enough to produce a sustained reaction. This is why nuclear fusion reactors currently use temperatures far exceeding that of the core of the sun, as they don't rely on quantum tunneling but instead actually do 'slam together' atoms as we think of it. Stars wouldn't even be possible this way, as they simply don't get hot enough. A bit of semantics given that nothing really 'touches' to begin with, but nonetheless useful to understand.

[francisking]

1:47 "Fission reactions don't occur naturally in nature." Well, yes, they do.

[MsAjax]

Good overview. Your productions are high quality. Thanks.

[AJ-kunm]

“Don’t expect it within the next 10 or 20 years” 30 years then maybe?

[NiftyShifty]

Fun fact: You get energy out of fusion reactions taking small, light elements and fusing them together. In contrast, fission releases energy by taking large, heavy atoms and fracturing them. In either event, energy is released when moving towards the middle of the periodic table, ie iron (Fe).

[DaveDugdaleColorado]

Good job on the content and the graphics in this video.

[goodyKoeln]

“That’s out of scope... for my brain.”
I know that feeling! 😅