• Question: What exactly is fusion energy?

    Asked by anon-234851 to Leah on 30 Sep 2019.
    • Photo: Leah Morgan

      Leah Morgan answered on 30 Sep 2019:

      Hi veronica17!

      Fusion energy is how the sun makes energy. The sun has lots of hydrogen atoms and in the middle of the sun it gets so hot (15 million degrees!!) that the hydrogen atoms stick together to make helium atoms. This is called fusion, when fusion happens lots of energy is released (fusion energy!).

      Fusion energy is great because it doesn’t release any bad pollution, there’s lots of fuel, and it’s safer than normal nuclear power.

      Where I work, we have two really big fusion experiments (one is 3 stories high and can get up to 150 million degrees!) designed to find the best way to build a fusion power station. We hope that one day in the future fusion power plants will be used to power the UK!

      Feel free to ask more about fusion energy, it’s my favourite topic!

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