Nuclear fusion energy project could lead to limitless clean electricity

The power of the sun is to be recreated in a new £1 billion science project which aims to provide a clean and almost limitless source of energy. British scientists will this week begin work to create a nuclear fusion reactor, which will use the same powerful reactions that take place in the Sun to provide energy and, ultimately, electricity.
Scientists have previously only been able to replicate the reaction inside hydrogen bombs. Now, however, they believe they are on the verge of achieving controlled fusion in a laboratory for the first time. Laser beams with enough power to light up every home in Britain for a few microseconds will be used to heat up the nuclear fuel to millions of degrees centigrade in order to trigger the reaction. If successful, the reactor will be a prototype for future commercial power stations, providing a cleaner and safer replacement for conventional nuclear power stations, which use nuclear fission to produce energy.
Unlike nuclear fission, which tears apart atoms to release energy and highly radioactive by-products, fusion involves squeezing two ""heavy"" hydrogen atoms, called deuterium and tritium together so they fuse, producing harmless helium and vast amounts of energy.