STEM Café: Fusion Energy: A Clean Energy Source for the Future?

For nearly a century people have been dreaming about fusion energy — a clean energy source that could help to reverse climate change. In theory, fusion could provide a nearly limitless energy source without releasing greenhouse gases and with less radioactive waste than current fission nuclear power plants. Yet, fusion energy faces physics and engineering challenges due to the immense heat and pressure needed to generate fusion reactions, and the use of rare isotopes of hydrogen. Will recent advances in plasma science and fusion research make fusion energy a reality?