What Are The Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear Energy is energy created from nuclear reactions. There are two known forms of nuclear reactions; fission and fusion. Fusion is the combining of two atoms to form a new one. Fusion occurs when two molecules are moving at extremely high speeds at each other. Then, the two atoms collide and combine together to form a new atom and a massive amount of energy. Unfortunately, here on earth, scientists have not been able to replicate fusion for use. The only known place where fusion occurs is the sun, where hydrogen atoms collide at high speeds with each other and form helium atoms to create a bunch of energy. Fission is the separating of atoms on the nuclear. Unlike fusion, fission is used with relatively large atoms. Fission is the typical …show more content…
There are problems with both of these sources of energy. The obvious problem with fossil fuels is that they are nonrenewable. Once they are all used up, they are gone forever. At the rate humanity is going that issue will be something we have to face sooner rather than later. The nonrenewable resources don’t have that problem of running out, but they are not very efficient and most of the time extremely expensive. There is something out there that has the best of both. It is Nuclear Energy. While nuclear energy and the resources it uses to operate are not renewable, they are extremely plentiful and will not run out in the foreseeable future. Nuclear energy is also extremely effective. In fact, it is so efficient that “about 100 nuclear reactors generate 20% of the United States’ electrical needs” (Myers). That number is unquestionably high, but we as a society have not even mastered how to use nuclear energy as an electrical source. That’s right, nuclear energy serves 20% of the entire United States’ electrical needs, but is not even being used to its’ full potential. I could write a full paper on how the uses of nuclear energy are being used to power the world, but there are many other uses as