{"id":34003,"date":"2022-12-14T08:28:17","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T02:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=34003"},"modified":"2025-04-20T08:02:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T02:32:12","slug":"nuclear-fusion-reactions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/nuclear-fusion-reactions\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuclear Fusion Reactions"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>About Nuclear Fusion Reaction (Meaning, Nuclear Fusion in Sun, Working of Nuclear Reactor)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Difference between Fusion and Fission (Which is better, Why Fusion is difficult)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>News Summary\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Scientists in the United States have, for the first time, achieved a net gain in energy from a nuclear fusion reaction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>About Nuclear Fusion Reactions:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/w50pCcV_3P0TABNym-718Bh56gsxMEHTHqVkIVcuguHp_ZonattNq-8ZPxUdEFYDVNKSQimbszbD6fb97CeHunimJTYtcaFSRbCBEkYpscSFhSdujKr3tDZZtMM2uhJHx_70IVHIaPSqzHbFMZmwdw\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Caption: Nuclear Fusion Reaction<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nuclear Fusion reactions power the Sun and other stars.<\/li>\n<li>In a fusion reaction<strong>, two light nuclei merge to form a single heavier nucleus<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The process releases energy because the total mass of the resulting single nucleus is less than the mass of the two original nuclei. The leftover mass becomes energy.\n<ul>\n<li>Albert Einstein\u2019s equation, <strong>E=mc<sup>2<\/sup><\/strong>, says in part that mass and energy can be converted into each other, explains why this process occurs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><u>If scientists can harness nuclear fusion, it promises to provide a near-limitless source of clean energy<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>Sun is a giant nuclear fusion reactor. In Sun, the nuclear fusion process occurs mainly between <strong>hydrogen<\/strong> and <strong>helium<\/strong>, since that is the bulk of its composition.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the difference between Fission and Fusion?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Fission<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li><u>Fission occurs when a neutron slams into a larger atom, forcing it to excite and spilt into two smaller atoms<\/u>\u2014also known as fission products.<\/li>\n<li>When each atom splits, a tremendous amount of energy is released.<\/li>\n<li>Uranium and plutonium are most commonly used for fission reactions in nuclear power reactors because <u>they are easy to initiate and control<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>The energy released by fission in these reactors heats water into steam. The steam is used to spin a turbine to produce carbon-free electricity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fusion<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li><u>Fusion occurs when two atoms slam together to form a heavier atom<\/u>, like when two hydrogen atoms fuse to form one helium atom.<\/li>\n<li>This is the same process that powers the Sun and creates huge amounts of energy\u2014several times greater than fission.<\/li>\n<li>Fusion reactions are being studied by scientists, but are <u>difficult to sustain for long periods of time<\/u> because of the tremendous amount of pressure and temperature needed to join the nuclei together.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How is Fusion better than Fission?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Both fission and fusion use the binding energy of protons and neutrons in the nuclei of atoms to release an enormous amount of energy.<\/li>\n<li>The biggest problem with fission is that some of its by-products remain radioactive for years, and have to be disposed of in special facilities.\n<ul>\n<li>Also, reactor accidents can release radioactive material into the environment, as happened at Three Mile Island in 1979 and at Chernobyl in 1986.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Nuclear fusion reactors require only universally abundant hydrogen, they could be set up anywhere \u2013 unlike <strong>fission reactors that require rare radioactive substances like uranium<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><u>Also, the amount of energy produced from fusion is very large<\/u>\u2014 four times as much as nuclear fission reactions \u2014 and fusion reactions can be the basis of future fusion power reactors.<\/li>\n<li>Once fusion energy is commercialized, the world would be able to produce virtually carbon-free electricity without any radioactive by-products.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why is Fusion Energy so challenging to achieve?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Sun\u2019s massive gravitational force naturally induces fusion, However, without that force, a higher temperature is needed for the reaction to take place.<\/li>\n<li>On earth, <strong>we need temperatures exceeding 100 million degrees Celsius and intense pressure to make nuclear fusion work<\/strong>, and sufficient confinement to hold the plasma and maintain the fusion reaction long enough for a net power gain.<\/li>\n<li>While conditions that are very close to those required in a fusion reactor are now routinely achieved in experiments, <u>improved confinement properties and stability of the plasma are needed<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>News Summary:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-A5I9kp_j7uzlG2KFraX9spzh9wRPcpnZYRNTgEmjUef9ucQH-RJoqRwGpa2aBQ6NZFy9vXDGm10G-f5W3HjhKrH8TGMSLkSQO6lfMhPoNi7urIsgHR1JxqM3G_FkSIFN1I5G5PGRqcw6tL_Fd4yDg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Caption: Lawrence Livermore Lab Experiment<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Scientists in the United States have, for the first time, achieved a net gain in energy from a nuclear fusion reaction.<\/li>\n<li>In simple terms, this is the <strong>first time a fusion reaction has produced more energy than it consumes<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the significance of USA\u2019s fusion energy breakthrough?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Fission-based power plants have been around since the 1950s, and India has several of its own.<\/li>\n<li>But scientists have been working for years to develop a reactor based on nuclear fusion, which is touted as a clean, abundant and safe source of energy.\n<ul>\n<li>Nuclear fusion reactor could eventually allow humanity to break its dependence on fossil fuels that are driving a global climate crisis.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Net energy gain has been an elusive goal because <strong>fusion happens at such high temperatures and pressures that it is incredibly difficult to control<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The success of researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, USA can be seen as a <u>big step forward in the decades-old endeavour to master a technology that is considered the most dependable source of energy in future<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) Why nuclear fusion is called thermonuclear reaction?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Nuclear fusion is also called thermonuclear reaction because it takes place at extremely high temperature and hence create enormous amount of energy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) What are some disadvantages of fusion?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A long-recognized drawback of fusion energy is neutron radiation damage to exposed materials, causing swelling, embrittlement and fatigue.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In nuclear fusion reaction, two light nuclei merge to form a single heavier nucleus releasing energy in the 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