Nuclear Fusion, explained for beginners

What’s really going on with nuclear fusion?? @simonegiertz and I try to explain...

You’ve probably heard about nuclear fusion. Maybe you've heard recent news about the Livermore National Lab achieving a nuclear fusion breakthrough called "ignition" - meaning it produced more energy than it took to start the reaction. That's a huge deal! But it leaves other questions unanswered. I wanted to know more.

I started by asking the CEO of the nuclear fusion company Helion all my big questions: What is nuclear fusion, really? I know it happens on the sun, but how can we do it on earth? Are we doing it already? Then, I ask one last question: “I’ve heard about kids building fusion reactors in their moms’ garage… if fusion is so hard… what are THEY doing?” The answer sets off the most fun and ambitious Huge If True episode yet.

It turns out that you can actually BUILD a nuclear fusion device. So I team up with my friend Simone Giertz to try. When something goes wrong, it turns into an explainer on what’s really going on with the world’s most-hyped energy source.

Special thanks to Jessie, Ron and Joben at Helion for helping set up such an exciting shoot (and not giving up!). And thank you to Anna Bresnahan for helping shoot this episode!

Chapters:
00:00 We tried to build a nuclear fusion reactor
03:07 What IS nuclear fusion?
04:51 Thank you, Oura!
05:31 How close are we to nuclear fusion?
07:30 How does nuclear fusion work?
08:31 How does the sun do fusion?
09:21 Magnetic confinement fusion
09:52 Inertial confinement fusion
10:37 Magneto-inertial confinement fusion
11:01 What does fusion LOOK like?
12:03 Why CAN'T we do fusion?
13:33 Why do we need fusion?

Correction:
07:48 In plasma, one or more electrons are torn free from an atom (as opposed to protons and neutrons themselves being "broken into bits"!)

Sources and further reading:

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated video producer and journalist. Cleo produces detailed explainer stories about technology and economics. She wrote the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained, was the host and a senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as a host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked. She now makes her own independent show, Huge If True. Each episode takes on one big technology innovation or idea, explains what it is, and helps people imagine the ways it could improve the world we live in by answering one simple question: If this works, what could go right?

Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro

Music: Musicbed

—
Welcome to the joke down low:

How does a nuclear physicist ask for a salary increase?
Gamma rays.

Find a way to use the word “rays” in a comment to let me know you’re a real one ;)

[simonegiertz]

Good riddance to the person that stole those packages! Can’t wait to see what they use it for 😂

[stephanien-]

As a nuclear engineer, I’m in AWE that you got the CEO of Helion on here! That’s so cool, id love to work for helion I’m so happy you met him

[ithuestad]

At 8:00 you refer to plasma as the disassociation of neutrons, protons, and electrons; however, (in this context) plasma is when the electrons are stripped from the nucleus (ionized) while the protons and neutrons remain bound to each other. I really enjoy your videos.

[JoeLorence]

It's been so much fun watching and seeing some skills that you obviously developed at Vox, but now also storytelling and style and voice that is definitely uniquely yours. Loving the quality of this content and watching it evolve with every new episode!

[HelionEnergy]

Awesome working with you on this one – we can’t wait to see the fusor built in Part 2!

[TheFoxstrider]

Hey, I’m a PhD student at the uk’s national lab for fusion. Just wanted to say that this is a really good introductory video to fusion and explains very difficult concepts well in a short space of time

[keshavjha]

I'm the first to comment on how fantastic Cleo's vids are becoming. I really appreciate your hard work and dedication.

[ryanm]

Cleo has said that one of the goals of her channel is to give people informed reasons for hope and optimism.
Watching her learn how to say “nuclear proliferation” made me feel like anyone can do anything.
(Also, Simone is the best, can’t wait for the build.)

[tylerismyname]

I just came across your channel about a week ago and WOW your videos are genuinely so amazing. The pacing, the storytelling, the editing, everything. It feels somehow both incredibly professional and conversational at the same time. Can't wait to see where you take this channel!

[medisch]

This is so great! I really enjoyed watching two of the biggest nerds I follow online geek out together ☺️

[leondexter]

Shame on the Youtube algorithm for taking until today to let me know Cleo had her own channel! Great video, informative, entertaining, and flows nicely through the facets of the topic. I'm looking forward to digging into the rest of them!

[tds]

The editing flow you have, where you jump out of the frame to the editor and explain things - I really really like it. You always seem to manage to do it at times to explain the stuff that I'm thinking.

Also it is great to see some underlying themes from the channel show through on different videos. You mentioned about the possibilities of having unlimited energy back in your clean energy video and the idea of reducing being mis-stated. I'm really looking forward to seeing the video in another 6 months and where things might lead.

[vikranttyagiRN]

More collabs like these with Simone please. This was awesome. Two of you are really great at what you do.

[MrMattie]

Great video! But don't do clickbait like that... By that standard I also tried to build a fusion reactor in my kitchen. I just happened to have five extra packages missing.

[ashwanisingh]

Obviously the video was good, the way you tell story, all the editing and the play with camera that's all amazing. The topic was little blurred but I guess waiting for part 2 will be worth it.

[nathan]

As someone who has been working in this field for some time now, its nice to see one of the creators I follow doing a video about it! Fusion is hard but the recent batch of experimental results gives me hope.

[yeetdeets]

You should look into deep geothermal. It holds 90% as much promise for cheap electricity, but it's relatively simple tech and only a couple of years away. It doesn't get enough press, I don't know why.

[n.kutalia]

I love your way of storytelling, Cleo. Keep on doing what you do

[hari]

Congrats on the explanation, I loved this 101 on fusion. Thank you!

Some of the issues that fusion systems are experiencing are how to overcome the great complexity of engineering challenges required to maintain a running fusion system. The systems being developed now only last for a very small blip of a second.

I believe the more experiments we can do on a smaller scale (just as you did) the greater the ingenuity we can throw at the engineering difficulties of constructing a running fusion system and the faster we can achieve a sustainable outcome.

Build small fusion kits in many Labs and Unis. Start playing with our ingenuity in problem-solving and experimenting faster. Unleash our most powerful weapon; a network of minds.

Something we need to remember is that having the culture to play with ideas and methods is just as powerful in problem-solving as building a massive methodical laboratory process.

[yaskynemma]

Ok, now I can't wait to see part 2, I loved this video, your organization of the parts and editing.
The subject is very interesting and I hope you are having a lot of fun with the building with Simone. You two are awesome