Nuclear energy is a clean source of energy because it does not emit green house gas. Nuclear power plant produces energy like any other steam-electric power plant; but in nuclear power plant, source of heat to boil water is chain reaction due to nuclear fission of Uranium rather than using coal, oil or fossil fuel. Nuclear reaction is of two types- Nuclear Fission and Nuclear Fusion. Nuclear Fusion produces more heat than Nuclear Fission. So, there are possibilities of using Nuclear Fusion for the eventual generation of electrical power. But Fusion cannot be controlled and a perfected nuclear reactor has not been developed yet. Reasons, behind this, have been discussed in this paper.
In Nuclear Fission process, energy is generated by splitting apart heavy atoms like uranium into smaller atoms such as iodine, cesium, strontium, xenon and barium etc. On the other hand Fusion is combining light atoms (like isotopes of hydrogen) to forms a heavier one (helium). Fusion yields more energy than Fission. This energy from Fusion can be used to boil water to drive a steam generator in a power plant and thus producing electricity. But the reaction involved in Fusion is so much hot that they will melt everything around them, including the device holding the Fusion-able fuel and it will be uncontrolled. The temperature rises to over hundred million degrees and this reaction is like universal solvent that melts everything. Unfortunately, it is still unknown how to control that heat and the rate of Fusion so as to decrease the damage to its own container and to make the Fusion long-lasting enough to apply this process commercially in generation of energy. As fusion reactions have yet to be controlled for any sustainable, commercially functional period it cannot be used for the eventual generation of electrical power till now.
Reference:
EFDA. Retrieved from http://www.efda.org/faq/how-do-fission-and-fusion-reactions-compare/
