Peak Food

Nuclear Fusion possibly may prevent food shortages in the future.  It is the way the sun is powered. It is the fusion of the nuclei of light elements, such as hydrogen and its isotopes. Nuclear fission - in contrast -  which is used in today’s nuclear power stations and provides the explosive force of nuclear weapons, uses the energy released when the large atoms of elements such as thorium, uranium and plutonium are split apart.

Nuclear fusion has long been thought of as the ultimate clean and everlasting source of energy, and one day it may prove to be that, but there seems little chance of it being developed and providing the bulk of the worlds’ energy needs within 40-50 years by which time we will have a planet severely damaged by the burning of the remaining fossil fuels in the world and the resulting emissions of greenhouse gasses.

The problem is that to cause hydrogen atoms to fuse, they need to be heated to over 150 million degrees and although progress has been made, it seems that we are still several years away from a working fusion reactor. When this is achieved, it will take many more years to perfect a commercial reactor and then a massive building programme before anything more than a small proportion of our power needs are met this way.

That time scale could possibly be changed if the public and governments became truly aware of the disaster we face as we burn the remaining fossil fuels, causing pollution of the atmosphere and depletion and scarcity of the fuels.

Peak Food believes an international development programme with wartime urgency and speed is needed to bring nuclear fusion to fruition in time to make a difference.  What do you think?