Fusion powers the sun and stars, and is potentially an environmentally responsible and intrinsically safe source of essentially limitless energy on earth. Experiments at the Joint European Torus (JET) in the UK, which has produced 16MW of fusion power, and at other facilities, have shown that fusion can be mastered on earth. The major disadvantage of fusion power is that it is not yet available, and will not be available as soon as we would like. We are reasonably confident that a fusion power station could be built, and it looks as if the cost of fusion power will be reasonable. But time is needed to further develop the technology in order to ensure that it would be reliable and economical, and to test, in power station conditions, the materials that would be used in its construction.
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