Fusion Q&A
Is fusion safer than fission?
Short answer
Yes, fundamentally. Fusion has no meltdown risk, no chain reaction, no high-level long-lived waste, and no weapons-grade byproducts. Fission requires active cooling for decades after shutdown; fusion does not.
The structural difference
Fission requires careful control to prevent over-reaction; fusion requires extraordinary effort to maintain any reaction at all. The failure mode is opposite.
Fission spent fuel contains plutonium and other actinides with 10,000+ year half-lives. Fusion produces helium and short-lived activation products.
Frequently asked
- Can fusion be weaponised?
- Fusion electricity-generation reactors produce no weapons-grade material. The tritium inventory in a power reactor is too small to be diverted at meaningful scale.
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