Nuclear fusion has been called the holy grail of energy for the longest time and scientists have been hard at work for decades to use this process to generate power.
Nuclear fusion is the same reaction that powers the Sun. At the core of our star, hydrogen atoms combine to form helium atoms. This process releases a tremendous amount of heat and light which we can feel on the Earth even though we are 150 million kilometres away from the Sun.
This is different from the infamous nuclear fission that powered the atomic bombs that were used in the second world war. In nuclear fission, a heavier atom splits into smaller ones which also releases a lot of energy.
Scientists have been trying to replicate nuclear fusion which unlike nuclear fission, doesn't produce any long-lived radioactive nuclear waste. If achieved, it would be a limitless clean source of energy for humanity which could power our civilisation for millennia to come.
Is China Close?
There have been a lot of rumours coming out of China that the country is close to cracking nuclear fusion and achieving the holy grail of energy. Several people had speculated that China could achieve this by the end of 2019.
Recently in November, a Chinese scientist who is a part of the team that is working on creating the first 'artificial sun', gave an update on their development. He stated that construction of the nuclear reactor was going smoothly and that it should be functional by 2020.
The device is named HL-2M tokamak and if they are successful, it would pave the way for nuclear fusion to become a viable option for power generation. Right now, scientists are trying to figure out to make this whole process cost-effective and this development should provide the breakthroughs they are looking for.
Technology is truly advancing at an unparalleled rate. What was thought possible to be achieved only after a few decades is on the cusp of becoming reality. The current predictions are that cold fusion will be achieved by 2050 but by the looks of it, that might happen a lot sooner.