What are the advantages of a fusion reactor compared to a fission reactor?

Answer 1

You must realise that any claimed advantages are based on scientists predictions, and to some extent wishful thinking, as it is not even determined in engineering terms how a nuclear fusion plant could be built, what materials could be used, and how the heat would be extracted.

However ever since fusion was proposed, scientists have been pointing out that it would produce much less radioactivity than fission does, and this is true, there would not be the spent fuel containing very highly active fission products that fission produces. There would be activation of structures in the plant due to the neutron irradiation coming from the plasma undergoing fusion. There are also consequences from needing to produce the tritium fuel, which is a dangerous substance to human health. So it all depends on future progress with ITER and further test rigs, but at the moment it is academic since it is very unlikely to happen within this century.

Answer 2

There won't be the very radioactive fission products that are produced during uranium fission, so much less radioactive waste to worry about. Also a large part of the fuel, ie the deuterium or heavy water, can be produced from any source of water.

Answer 3

In case of fusion reactions, fusion reactors cannot sustain a chain reaction so they can never melt down like fission reactors. Fusion reaction produces very less or, if the right atoms are chosen, no radioactive waste. In case of nuclear fission large radioactive waste is produced and disposal of radioactive waste is a complicated problem. For nuclear power, fusion is the better choice.

Unfortunately, at this time nobody knows how to build a fusion reactor that generates as much energy as is needed to run it. In other words all current fusion reactor designs consume more energy than they can produce. Which makes them useless.

Answer 4

Fission reactors produce radioactive waste in the form of spent fuel rods. A fusion reactor would not produce radioactive waste, as it would convert Hydrogen into Helium. In the reaction chamber, there would be much radiation produced, but no radioactive waste as a byproduct of the reaction.

Answer 5

Fusion would produce less radioactive waste to be stored for centuries. The precise behaviour of a fusion plant can't be stated yet as there is no design for a working power plant. There are clearly no fission products, but the intense neutron bombardment of the reaction chamber would produce irradiated material.

Answer 6

As of July 2014 fusion reactors remain theoretical and the subject of active research and experimentation. Fission produces radioactive wastes, whereas fusion is expected to be cleaner.

Answer 7

one of them is that fusion power leaves no nuclear waste while fission does

Answer 8

Fission, if we can use it for producing power, has the advantages of a nearly endless supply of fuel and the production of no high level nuclear waste.