How is fission and fusion different

There is no chain reaction involved — hence there can not be an explosion — the reaction is achieved simply by getting the fuel hot enough and containing it tightly enough for the components to collide and fuse. The temperature has been achieved over million degrees , however confining the hot fuel plasma using powerful magnetic fields has taken a while to perfect.

It turns out that the most tightly bound atomic nuclei are around the size of iron, which has 26 protons in the nucleus. So, one can release energy either by splitting very large nuclei, like uranium with 92 protons, to get smaller products, or fusing very light nuclei, like hydrogen , with just one proton to get bigger products.

The Fusion in Europe newsletter delivers news and views on the progress of fusion research directly to your inbox. Research for tomorrow's energy supply. Home Fusion Fusion vs Fission. Fusion takes place when two low-mass isotopes, typically isotopes of hydrogen, unite under conditions of extreme pressure and temperature.

Fusion is what powers the sun. Atoms of Tritium and Deuterium isotopes of hydrogen, Hydrogen-3 and Hydrogen-2, respectively unite under extreme pressure and temperature to produce a neutron and a helium isotope. Along with this, an enormous amount of energy is released, which is several times the amount produced from fission. Scientists continue to work on controlling nuclear fusion in an effort to make a fusion reactor to produce electricity.

Some scientists believe there are opportunities with such a power source since fusion creates less radioactive material than fission and has a nearly unlimited fuel supply. However, progress is slow due to challenges with understanding how to control the reaction in a contained space. This releases a tremendous amount of power in a short span, generating the devastating blast of the bomb.

Related: 6 years after Fukushima: Has Japan lost faith in nuclear power? Fusion, by contrast, has yet to be fully developed as a human power source. In nuclear fusion, two nuclei of a light element, such as hydrogen, must overcome their natural electromagnetic repulsion and merge into a single, heavier nucleus.

The resulting entity is slightly less massive than the original two nuclei, and just like with fission, this missing mass is converted into energy. But generating enough power to smash atoms together until they stick is not easy and generally requires the extreme environment of a star's belly to happen. Engineers have long dreamed of making sustained fusion reactions here on Earth.

Fusion power would produce less nuclear waste than fission and uses relatively common light elements, such as hydrogen — rather than rarer uranium — as a fuel supply, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.