CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -World-first nuclear fusion plant could generate carbon free energy by 2040, UK government claims. The world’s first commercial nuclear fusion reactor will be up and running by 2040, the UK government has pledged.

Detailed explanation-2: -In the 1930’s scientists, particularly Hans Bethe, discovered that nuclear fusion was possible and that it was the energy source for the sun. Beginning in the 1940’s researchers began to look for ways to initiate and control fusion reactions to produce useful energy on earth.

Detailed explanation-3: -On May 1, 1974, the KMS fusion company (founded by Kip Siegel) achieved the world’s first laser induced fusion in a deuterium-tritium pellet. Neutron-sensitive nuclear emulsion detectors, developed by 1961 Nobel Prize winner Robert Hofstadter, were used to provide evidence of this discovery.

Detailed explanation-4: -It’s still a good vision to invest more in this technology (and others) to go faster.” Even if things do work out on that timescale, it usually takes around 40 to 50 years to widely adopt a new source of energy, Cuneo says.

Detailed explanation-5: -Credit © ITER Organization However, the science and physics of nuclear fusion started becoming clear only in the 1920s when British astrophysicist Arthur Eddington suggested that stars draw their energy from the fusion of hydrogen into helium.