大象传媒

It鈥檚 nearly a century since it was discovered that the sun and other stars are powered by nuclear fusion. It鈥檚 when hydrogen atoms merge to form helium, and release huge amounts of energy.

Since then, scientists have dreamed of reproducing the process here on Earth, with one Nobel Laureate calling it 鈥渢he sun in a box鈥�.

It holds the promise of virtually limitless energy, with few emissions and waste. But recreating the conditions where fusion can take place are a vast engineering challenge. So how close are we to having a working reactor powered by fusion? And will the process solve all our energy problems?

Presenter: Tanya Beckett
Producer: Louise Clarke-Rowbotham