Fusion or fission which is more powerful

This is the same process that powers the sun and creates huge amounts of energy—several times greater than fission. Fusion reactions are being studied by scientists, but are difficult to sustain for long periods of time because of the tremendous amount of pressure and temperature needed to join the nuclei together.

All of the energy we produce comes from basic chemical and physical processes. Fission and fusion are two physical processes that produce massive amounts of energy from atoms. They yield millions of times more energy than other sources through nuclear reactions. However, fusion is combining light atoms, for example two hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium, to form the heavier helium.

Both reactions release energy which, in a power plant, would be used to boil water to drive a steam generator, thus producing electricity. Fission is the nuclear process that is currently run in nuclear power plants. It is triggered by uranium absorbing a neutron , which renders the nucleus unstable. The result of the instability is the nucleus breaking up, in any one of many different ways, and producing more neutrons, which in turn hit more uranium atoms and make them unstable and so on.

This chain reaction is the key to fission reactions, but it can lead to a runaway process resulting in nuclear accidents. In conventional nuclear power stations today, there are systems in place to moderate the chain reactions to prevent accident scenarios and stringent security measures to deal with proliferation issues. The result of the instability is the nucleus breaking up in any one of many different ways , in the process producing more neutrons, which in turn hit more uranium atoms and make them unstable and so on.

This chain reaction is the key to fission reactions, but it can lead to a runaway process, as in a nuclear bomb. Fusion is a much harder reaction to achieve, however it yields more energy than fission.