Nuclear power plants may be a staple of our modern world’s energy production, but all of these models operate using the process of nuclear fission, where atoms are split to produce energy.
An energy startup company is now proposing plans to build a nuclear fusion powerplant, where atoms are fused together to produce energy. This is how the sun produces energy, so it’s naturally raising some concerns as to how feasible or safe it would be. But why are we even focused on fusion?
AI
Energy demands, in general, have been rising almost non-stop, but have hit a huge surge recently due to the rise of artificial intelligence. Not only does AI require huge amounts of energy to function, but it also needs cooling because of how much heat is generated.
To accommodate this, the hope is that a shift towards nuclear energy, be it fission or fusion, will help meet demands.
We’re currently at a crossroads with our energy use, with fossil fuels being our most efficient option but also the most harmful to the environment, while renewable energy sources are clean but struggle to keep up with energy demands by themselves.
Nuclear energy is a great middle ground, covering the issue of efficiency while also being far better for the environment. Companies like RAICo are looking at how we can implement AI into our nuclear power, making the practice even safer than it already is. Check out what innovations they’re making in the two industries at https://raico.org.
Why fusion?
As we’ve just discussed, the concept of a small sun to produce our energy might seem a little unsettling, but it’s been a huge target for the scientific community ever since its discovery. Nuclear fusion provides massive amounts of energy with no carbon emissions, making it by far the most efficient and cleanest energy source we can conceptualise.
Nuclear fission is still a highly efficient energy source. It also produces a harmful byproduct in nuclear waste, which is difficult to dispose of, but this is far less harmful and abundant than carbon emissions from fossil fuels.
