Fusion power

Fusion power is energy released when light atomic nuclei combine, especially in controlled systems designed to produce electricity. Its challenge is sustaining fusion while capturing more useful energy than the system consumes.

Nuclear fusion: A nuclear reaction in which light atomic nuclei combine into a heavier nucleus, releasing energy when the products are more tightly bound. This is the reaction that releases energy in fusion power systems.
Fusion triple product: The product of plasma density, temperature, and energy confinement time, used to assess fusion performance. It summarizes how close a plasma is to the conditions required for useful fusion.
Tokamak: A toroidal magnetic-confinement device that uses a strong plasma current and external magnetic fields. Tokamaks are the most extensively developed magnetic fusion design.
Nuclear fission: A nuclear reaction in which a heavy atomic nucleus splits into lighter nuclei, releasing energy and usually neutrons. Fission already generates electricity commercially, unlike controlled fusion.
Tritium breeding: The production of tritium from lithium through neutron reactions inside a fusion blanket. A power plant needs to breed enough tritium to replace what its fuel cycle consumes.
Plasma: A state of matter containing free charged particles that respond collectively to electromagnetic fields. Fusion fuels must be heated into plasma before their nuclei can collide often enough.
Neutron: A neutral subatomic particle found in atomic nuclei and released by many fusion reactions. Fast neutrons carry much of deuterium–tritium fusion energy into reactor materials and blankets.
Stellarator: A magnetic-confinement device whose three-dimensional external coils create twisted magnetic fields for plasma confinement. Its design can sustain plasma without relying on a large pulsed plasma current.
Cold fusion: A disputed claim that nuclear fusion can occur at or near room temperature in condensed matter. It differs from the high-temperature plasma conditions pursued by fusion power research.
Fusion materials: Materials engineered to withstand the heat, radiation, and particle exposure inside fusion systems. Neutron damage and erosion threaten component lifetime and maintenance schedules.

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Helium-4Related: Helium-4 is the principal product of several candidate fusion reactions.