Golden donuts and miniature suns: How close is nuclear fusion?

Clean, safe power from nuclear fusion is the Holy Grail of energy research – but how close is it to reality? A breakthrough in December, when a fusion reaction produced more energy than went into the experiment, suggests it could be. Dr. Sharon Ann Holgate, author of Nuclear Fusion: The Race to Build a Mini-Sun on Earth, joins Andrew Harrison to unpack the science and ask whether this science fiction staple could become fact.

• “A Tokamak reactor? Imagine you’ve gone to the bakers, bought yourself a doughnut, and for reasons best known for yourself you’ve decided to have it gold plated.”
• “Some of us call the fusion reaction ‘inherently safe’ because it doesn’t have the ability to run away with itself in the way a fission reactor can.”

Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer Jet Gerbertson. Assistant producer Kasia Tomasiewicz. Lead producer Jacob Jarvis. Bunker music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. Group Editor Andrew Harrison.

THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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