One kilogram of fusion fuel would produce the same amount of energy as 10,000,000 kg of fossil fuels. A team at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxford, UK hopes to achieve this long hoped for goal of reproducing the same energetic reaction that takes place in the sun using High Powered Laser Energy Research (HiPER). The idea is that the lasers would be powerful enough to fuse together isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium. This would create helium while releasing neutrons and vast amounts of energy (NewScientist, Sept 8-14, 2007).
Fusion has some critic. In June, 2005 the BBC did a story about a 10 billion euro fusion reactor being planned for the south of France that raised controversy over the cost, considering that a stable, self-sustaining fusion reaction has never been achieved. The critics of the project pointed out that 10 billion euros invested in say, wind farming would be sure to deliver green sustainable energy where as this project is a gamble and still produces small amounts of radioactive waste, although not nearly as much as nuclear fission plants.
A new 1 billion dollar project getting funded for the Rutherford Appleton group is promising that fusion may become a reality in the next decade or so. Construction on there facility begins in 2011.
