By Leia Parker
(Wall Street Journal, February 22, 2010) It’s a tall order, but scientists at an English industrial complex near Oxford are attempting to develop an energy source that replicates the sun. The problem isn’t whether fusion can work: It does. Scientists have successfully released energy from light atoms by fusing their nuclei together. The special reactor at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in England holds the world record for most fusion power produced. The problem is turning fusion into a viable large-scale energy source—one that is economical, clean and safe. That is still somewhere over the horizon. After decades of research and billions of dollars in public financing, no fusion experiment yet has been able to generate more energy than it consumed in the process. Click here to read more…