They may not be quite ready to flip the switch to "On" but Nucor Steel, the largest US steel company, is planning on powering at least one of its mills with electricity generated by a nuclear fusion reaction. Helion Energy will supply the expertise in the project to develop a 500 megawatt power plant using the so-far never realized use of nuclear fusion by 2030. Which of Nucor's 23 mills will be the first to get the new juice hasn't been determined.
The successful production of nuclear fusion power has been the Holy Grail of physics for many years but the limitations of driving small molecules together to produce larger ones of less combined atomic weight, releasing energy, has yet to be practically overcome.
The use of nuclear fission, the technology that has been in use for many years all over the world, produces radioactive waste and requires expensive and rare raw materials together with extensive safety procedures.
There will soon be only six years for Nucor and Helion to meet their schedule for something that has never been done.
© HELION ENERGY/VIA REUTERS
Maybe a fusion reactor when completed. The impetus for this includes making people happy that no CO2 is produced so the oceans won't boil.
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