Nuclear fusion power is not feasible yet and remains primarily in the research and experimental stages. Nuclear fusion is what makes the sun shine. In most common experimental fusion reactions isotopes of hydrogen including deuterium and tritium are fused together creating a helium nucleus while ejecting one neutron. The mass of the reactants are more than the products due to the difference in nuclear binding energy. This mass defect is the energy desired to be harnessed in the process. This energy can heat water to steam which can be used to spin a turbine, generating electricity. Manmade methods used for producing fusion reactions include magnetic confinement, inertial confinement, magnetic or electric pinches, and inertial electrostatic confinement. Magnetic confinement fusion is most commonly achieved in a tokamak which is a device that is meant to contain and control plasma using magnetic fields. The plasma can be heated by these magnetic fields by means of them creating intense electrical currents through the plasma from the process of induction. To obtain plasma temperatures suitable for the fusion process more heat methods must be incorporated. These may include neutral beam injection as well as emitting high frequency electromagnetic waves at the plasma. Plasma temperatures can reach 150 million degrees Celsius within the vacuum chamber of the tokamak. Cooling systems may use water to transfer heat from where the plasma radiation strikes within the tokamak, away from the chambers surfaces. The chambers surface contains blanket modules which protect other components from the heat and high energy neutrons that can cause damage to the system. At the bottom of the vacuum chamber there may be a divertor which extracts heat and ash to reduce plasma contamination. Deuterium can be processed from sea water as found in roughly 1 part per 5,000 hydrogen atoms. This is still over 10 to the power of 15 tons of deuterium found in sea water. Tritium on the other hand is extremely rare and radioactive with a half-life of about 10 years. It would have to be produced by means of tritium breeding which involves the high energy neutrons from the fusion reaction interacting with lithium contained in the tokamaks blanket modules. No major tritium breeding has been attempted but at ITER blanket designs will be tested for potential solutions. Another option for nuclear fusion is to replace tritium with helium 3 in the reaction process. This will make a normal helium atom while ejecting a proton which is easier to contain. Unfortunately the helium 3 reaction requires greater fusion temperatures but still offers better prospects for the future. Although Earth does not have significant quantities of helium 3 because of its atmosphere blocking solar wind, the moons crust is estimated to have over a million metric tons of it. In the deuterium and tritium reaction, the lithium for breeding tritium may last a 1,000 years based on its abundance found in land deposits. Sea based reserves of lithium could sustain these processes for millions of years. As far as helium 3, it would only take 25 tons of it to power the United States for a year. Nuclear fusion reactions are one of the most concentrated producers of energy we are trying to harness to date. Nuclear fusion would be a clean energy source with no harmful emissions or radioactive waste. It is of great hopes that we will develop a system capable of providing a gain factor that is the energy produced over consumed by the reaction, substantial enough for commercial use. For more information on the forefront of nuclear fusion and specifically a new experimental reactor being built in France, visit www.iter.org.

It is well publicised that natural gas pipelines can have 15% hydrogen in them and still work with conventional appliances.

Does anyone have easy access to literature documenting the blending of hydrogen and carbon dioxide in natural gas grids? What maximum proportions can this be substituted into the grid and appliances?

Could it replace methane entirely, or would the Sabatier Reaction have to be used before injection?