A Piece of the Sun: The Quest for Fusion Energy

by Daniel Clery

The solution, says Daniel Clery in this deeply revelatory book, is to be found in the original energy the Sun itself. There, at its center, the fusion of 620 million tons of hydrogen every second generates an unfathomable amount of energy. By replicating even a tiny piece of the Sun’s power on Earth, we can secure all the heat and energy we would ever need. The simple yet extraordinary ambition of nuclear-fusion scientists has garnered many skeptics, but, as A Piece of the Sun makes clear, large-scale nuclear fusion is scientifically possible―and perhaps even preferable to other options. Clery argues passionately and eloquently that the only thing keeping us from harnessing this cheap, clean and renewable energy is our own shortsightedness.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Physics, History, Research, Engineering, Audiobook

336 pages, Paperback

First published June 20, 2013

About the author

Daniel Clery has a long pedigree in science journalism, having worked as a news writer and editor for magazines such as Physics World, New Scientist and Science since 1986. Clery's childhood was split between Toronto, Canada, and rural Essex in the U.K. He went on to study theoretical physics at the University of York and is now astronomy correspondent for Science magazine. Clery's first book, A Piece of the Sun, was published in June 2013.

Reviews

[Rik Brooymans · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for an overview of fusion for energy generation and got most of what I was looking for from this book. There was a very detailed chronological history of the incremental advancements made in the science, with the potential for chaos in the story that comes from semi-independent national programs, militaries, labs, scientists and technologies working at cross-purposes against each other all quite deftly handled.

This book occupies an interesting niche between descriptive popular science and science history, never quite fulfilling either objective. You need a certain amount of background explanation of the science of fusion in order for everything to make sense, but it was probably less than I had hoped for. But there was also always the feeling that a lot of the history was being skim-coated in order to keep the book from exploding, so any one of a dozen or more people could have been studied in more detail. I would imagine that the fact that most of this work was done behind a heavy curtain of secrecy would make it extremely difficult to tie these two threads together.

If you look to this book as a historical and scientific primer for further study, I think you'll be happy.

[Jeffrey Cavanaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative, if rather dry history of fusion research that asks in a roundabout way just what it will take to build a sun in a bottle. Like any technological advance of any significance, the answer is that it will require constant tinkering, lots of experimentation and, importantly, steady budgets from governments willing to think of the future instead of the present by funding basic, long-term research.

Will fusion ever succeed? Probably, but even if it isn't in our lifetime the book argues the benefits of such long-term, 'big science' projects are such that later generations will benefit even if we do not.

[Marion Vose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but a pretty dry retelling of the modern history of fusion research.

[Lekan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good history of the development of fusion energy, but could benefit from better organization as well as greater technical details.

The book has the tone of an inexorable march toward certain fusion, led by key scientists and regular progress, and only lack of funding and political will is holding us back. It therefore reads more like a political history with a large number of names and organizations and inter-organizational rivalries. Rarely does it explore the scientific issues more than a few sentences, and even when it does, it entirely lacks precision. On one page, it can describe a certain technique as groundbreaking, and a couple of pages later, it will say that another technology ended up being superior. Without the technical detail, everything feels like small accidental experiments weaved together by political will and funding. The book spends so much time talking about scientists who struggle with plasma physics, but devotes almost no space to sharing what those struggles actually are, leaving you with a feeling that you're watching all this through glass, or reading a dry stenographer's account of everything.

On the organization of the book, it's nominally temporal, but not entirely, which is endlessly confusing. It will jump forward and backward by a decade when it tries to thematically tie sections together, but does a poor job drawing the reader to those time jumps, so you're left feeling discombobulated, and unable to see the complex web of cause and effect behind everything, besides what the author is trying to draw your attention to at the moment.

Finally, the book is overly optimistic and tries so hard to be inoffensive about everything, and doesn't learn from the lessons it itself details--even with all the delays and setbacks, it ends on a remarkably positive and unopinionated note that felt forced and unwarranted.

This was a decent overview, and I learned quite a bit about the political history of fusion power, but I still don't feel like I really understand the fusion world without significantly more reading.

[NCHS Library]

From Follett: Title proper from title frame.;Mode of access: World Wide Web. Our rapidly industrializing world has an insatiable hunger for energy, but conventional sources are running out. The solution, says Daniel Clery in this deeply revelatory book, is to be found in the original energy source: the Sun itself. There, at its center, the fusion of 620 million tons of hydrogen every second generates an unfathomable amount of energy. By replicating even a tiny piece of the Sun?s power on Earth, we can secure all the heat and energy we would ever need. The simple yet extraordinary ambition of nuclear-fusion scientists has garnered many skeptics, but, as A Piece of the Sun makes clear, large-scale nuclear fusion is scientifically possible?and perhaps even preferable to other options. Clery argues passionately and eloquently that the only thing keeping us from harnessing this cheap, clean and renewable energy is our own shortsightedness.

[STEPHEN PLETKO!! · Rating 4 out of 5]

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THE QUEST FOR THE PERFECT ENERGY SOURCE

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"We owe everything to [nuclear] fusion. Our own sun and every star that shines in the night sky are powered by fusion. Without it, the Cosmos would be dark, cold, and lifeless. Fusion fills the Universe with light and heat, and allows life to happen on Earth and probably elsewhere.

The Earth itself, the air we breathe, and the very stuff we are made of are the products of fusion."

The above quote (in italics) comes from ths informative book by Daniel Clery. Clery studied theoretical physics at York University in the U.K. For more than two decades, he has edited and written for some of the world's top science magazines such as New Scientist and Science. Clery has coveed many of the biggest science news stories of our time.

So, just what is nuclear fusion? The best way to answer this question is to compare nuclear FUSION to nuclear FISSION (which is what occurs in the nuclear power plants of today).

Nuclear fission occurs when a heavy atomic nucleus (such as that of the element Uranium) captures a neutron and then fragments into two lighter nuclei. Sustaining this process to other heavy nucei, we are able to get a a chain reaction which releases large amounts of energy.

Nuclear fusion, on the other hand, occurs when light nuclei (such as hydrogen nuclei) combine to form a heavier nucleus. Before they are able to unite, the light nuclei must travel at extemely high speeds in order to ovecome the repulsion between their like charges. To achieve these high speeds, the light nuclei must be in a very hight temperature environment. When the two light nuclei do actually combine, enormous amounts of energy are released.

Nuclear power is a possible solution to the world's energy crisis. At present, we are able to control nuclear fission chain reactions but there are a few problems such as the disposal of radoioactive wastes.

One of the most promising energy sources of the future is a controlled nuclear fusion reaction. Why? Because its fuel, namely hydrogen (as stated above), is abundant. As an added bonus, there are no radioactiive wastes.

So what's the problem? The biggest problem is that we unable to maintain the extremely high temeatures (that is, temperatures ten times those in the core of the sun) that are required to sustain nuclear fusion reactions.

This is where this book comes in. It covers quite thoroughly the excitement and numerous frustratioms (such as technical challenges, politics, funding, etc.) of te quest for fusion energy, a quest that has been going on for the last seven decades.

This book concentrates on nuclear fusion reactor design and we get a glimpse of how this design has been changed or has been modified throughout the years. The science and history of fusion research is also well-presented.

There are 25 black & white illustrations peppered throughout, some are picturs and some are schematcs.

Finally, I have a few suggestions for this book:

(1) There are numerous abbreviations in this book that are only spelled out once in the main narrative. If you forget what an abbreviation means, you have to hunt for the one time it was spelled out. This can be tedioous and fustrating. I think it would have been beneficial to have these abbreviations listed and spelled out on a single page that's easily accesible.

(2) The inclusion of a glossary would have been most helpful.

(3) As well, I think more illustrations especially in the form of schematcs would have aided this book considerably.

In conclusion, this book beautifully captures the excitement and frustrations for the quest for fusion energy!!

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(2013; 8 chapters; main narratve 305 pages; further reading; acknowledgements; index)

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[Collin Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We owe everything to fusion. Our own sun and every star that shines in the night sky are powered by fusion. Without it, the cosmos would be dark, cold, and lifeless. Fusion fills the universe with light and heat, and allows life to happen on earth and probably elsewhere. The Earth itself, the air we breathe and the very stuff we are made of are the products of fusion" (page 11)
The author (Daniel Clery) does a good job of showing the path towards the success of nuclear fusion. This book talks about the background developments and difficulties in fusion research with importance on endurance, creativity, and also international cooperation shown by the ITER project. The author makes difficult ideas into more understandable ones by mixing personal knowledge with technological knowledge. Some of the themes can include global collaboration and perseverance and innovation, also a major plot event in this text were international projects that focus on international collabs such as the ITER project in France.
My personal review of the book is that it was very eye opening to read and I feel like anyone who is into this specific thing it could be very inspiring to read for them. The book explains scientific concepts that can be engaging, the history of research on fusion research was a surprise to me. This book inspired me to think about the roles that science and also technology play in the whole world.

[Michael A. Simmons, Sr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise history

Many tech oriented readers are quite familiar with nuclear fission as a source for power for an energy hungry planet. When it comes to nuclear fusion however we are generally unaware of the time and effort not to mention money that has been spent in trying to perfect the process of fusion. The author has done a creditable job in outlining the history and the efforts of science in trying to make fusion a reality. A worthwhile read for anyone who is concerned for our future energy needs.

[Josh Souza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clearly does a wonderful job of narrating the integrated history of fusion. Noting the major hurdles and breakthroughs of each program and project, this book leaves the reader with a thorough understanding of how we got to the major NIF and ITER projects of today. The end of the book is wrapped up quickly and could have used some more discussion and clarity on the hurdles that Cleary saw for both inertial and magnetically confined fusion. Instead, he quotes a researcher from PSFC at MIT instead of forming his own conclusions on the topic.

[David Hoag · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd love to say I really enjoyed 'A Piece of the Sun' as I learned a lot about the history of the race to functional fusion reactors, but since we (humanity) haven't really blown anyone away with results yet, it was like reading a list of valiant failures. I hope, more than any other technology I know about today, super efficient and safe fusion power reactors can steer us (and China mostly) away from coal and fossil fuels as a source of energy.

[Dandy Lyons · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a great overview of the history of fission and fusion and I appreciated him diving deep into the social, political and military influences that shaped current research. It would’ve been nice if the author would have talked more about the fusion process itself and the positive implications of the technology for our society, such as lowering greenhouse emissions, space travel, powering cities, powering water desalination plants/towers etc.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to this book, which made it easier to finish. Very detailed, but still comprehensible. Gives a good feel for the trials and tribulations of fusion energy as a potential green energy source - why it would be so great, and why it hasn't worked yet. Really, more entertaining and enlightening than you'd think....

[Thomas Focht · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was good for a quick history on fusion research. However the book didn’t keep me very engaged. By no means do I think it was the author’s doing so much as it was the subject matter. Fusion is a very heavy subject in and of itself. The author makes the attempt at simplifying it but it’s still difficult to get.

[Mike Augustine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having had a passing knowledge of fusion from a physics class, I was unaware of the significant effort and huge expenditure put towards realizing fusion as a power generation source. This book spans from early concept to multiple methods, machines and people through 2013. The material is a bit obtuse at times but pretty enlightening to the previously uniformed reader.

[Aaron Stannard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great summary of fusion and its challenges

Loved the detailed history, the presentation of opposing views and strategies, and the technical breakdowns of the designs. Excellent read.

[Dominik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing. A thrilling read.

[Alexandru Tudorica · Rating 4 out of 5]

An overview of the history of fusion science and some of its multiple avenues.

[رامي الرفوع · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise summary of the history of fusion research and development

[Zinaida Good · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice history of science behind nuclear fusion and where we likely to go in the near future. I wish there was a bit more on the approaches being worked on now (other than ITER).

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Piece of the Sun: The Quest for Fusion Energy (2014) by Daniel Clery is a history of research into fusion power. Fusion power has long promised effectively infinite power. However research into using controlled fusion as a power source has failed to deliver a working generator. Fusion research has been going on since the 1940s so it's taken at least seventy years. In contrast fission power went from first trials to a power source in about thirteen years. This has led to many jokes about fusion along the lines of how fusion is the power of the future and always will be. The book looks at the various attempts, describes what went wrong and what led to the next steps and goes through the myriad of organisations that have been created to try and create working fusion power. It's a surprisingly interesting story.
Fusion experiments started with scientists compressing plasmas to a huge density and thus attempting to cause fusion. Initially this was done by running currents through a plasma in a magnetic field which causing the plasma to compress. The idea was that compressing the plasma sufficiently would cause fusion to happen. The problem was then how to contain the plasma. Containing the plasma so that it was sufficiently compressed and compressed for long enough then became the problem. Initially straight tubes with magnetic mirrors on each side were explored, then tori, then tokomaks. Experiments in the UK, US, Soviet Union, the EU and Japan then built bigger and bigger machines that continue to get closer to sufficiently high temperatures and pressures to cause fusion to happen. But each step has proved harder and harder and promises of progress have been broken again and again.
The book also looks at the idea of laser fusion, that is fusion causes by compressing a target with powerful lasers. Just as magnetic confinement has proved more difficult than thought on repeated occasions so has laser driven fusion.
There has been progress toward fusion, tokomaks and laser fusion have gone tantalisingly close to showing that machines that produce commercial power are possible but no machine has quite gone all the way. The book concludes by looking at the various current attempts, the Z-pinch, ITER and NIF and discussing the new developments in lasers and materials that could lead to fusion power.
The book jumps around between the various experimental groups and techniques in a way that sometimes leaves the reader a little lost as to which decade they are in but the narrative built by following each group helps overall.
The book provides an interesting overview of the technology that will hopefully one day yield a clean vast amount of power.

[Brian Clegg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little worried early on in A Piece of the Sun as, frankly the science is borderline feeble. I was quite shocked that in describing the fusion reaction in the sun, the author was very hand waving about quantum theory, not even mentioning quantum tunnelling in his explanation. Luckily, though, this isn’t a book about science, so much as about how science and technology is undertaken, and that it mostly does very well.

Nuclear fusion with its simple fuel and low level waste has always seemed such a natural energy solution I have never understood why we have been so slow at developing it – now I do. Daniel Clery beautifully describes the development of the technology and the parallel understanding of plasmas and fusion in the UK, US and Russia (for some reason, less so in the other big fusion player, Japan). By reading this you get a real feel for the difficulties and in some cases the dramatic stories of the developments and political infighting along the way.

The book also explains another mystery – why the US has put so much effort into the laser-driven inertial containment method which had never seemed a likely way to build a power station. It is, it seems, because it has been used to study the miniature fusion bombs that it uses, and has been strongly linked to military funding.

The way the story is told could have been a little better – the text can be a bit repetitive and there is perhaps a bit too much of the bureaucratic detail of how projects have been controlled and funded (in the end this is important to understanding how these mega projects work – but it makes the book less readable). It is also strange that we get the whole story in summary up front, then again in detail. It’s not the author’s fault but I was disappointed how far we still are from even having ITER working and with the conclusion of some experts that the technology is never going to be workable to reliably generate power for the grid.

Overall an essential book for anyone interested in fusion or who is involved in the politics of how we generate our electricity.

Review first published on www.popularscience.co.uk and reproduced with permission.

[Abhijeet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprise but welcome addition to my reading list courtesy a gift from a dear friend. It describes the trials and tribulations faced around the world in getting nuclear fusion to be a viable source of energy. Extremely geeky, it early on had me trying my Fleming left and right hand rules but soon I gave up on understanding all the science behind it.

The point is this - few understand plasma physics and thus it takes multi-billion dollar projects over decades to get to prove/disprove certain theories. Add to that the politicking of the Cold War, the posturing of the different constituents - US, EU, Soviet Union and the importance given to fusion vis-a-vis oil as a source of energy from one crisis to the next and we may have already lost at least a decade in the race. Highlights that meandering through the political backdoors and bureaucracy is as important if fusion is to succeed as a government initiative.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decently written book that tells the story of more than half a century of research around the elusive goal of building a fusion reactor. Unfortunately, it is largely a story of delays and frustrations. Real progress has been made, but there is no assurance that it will ever be possible to build an economical fusion reactor for commercial power generation. The reality of what has happened makes it hard to tell a compelling story as there are no real heroes or villains here and the story doesn't have a triumphal ending. Incremental research gains are important, but don't make for compelling reading.

[Scott Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

In general, this book is very good if you want to understand the sequence of struggles we have had already, on the way to fusion power. It also does a very good job of describing the physical problems with the concepts. The only thing dragging the book was the list of financial issues and historical facts that seem ancillary to the primary point. My opinion may only be this, however, because to me a million or a billion dollars seems the same amount to me...both unattainable for me to personally experience.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating and engrossing overview of the history of fusion energy. Clery expertly covers both the technical advancements within the field as well as the sociopolitical drama that unfolded around it. Clery has a knack for explaining the physics and engineering concepts behind fusion reactors and is equally skilled at detailing the personalities and motivations of the scientists and politicians involved.

[Teo]

2017.08.06–2017.08.09

Contents

Clery D (2013) (10:11) Piece of the Sun, A - The Quest for Fusion Energy

Dedication

1. Why Fusion?
2. Britain: Thonemann and the Pinch
3. United States: Spitzer and the Stellarator
4. Russia: Artsimovich and the Tokamak
5. Tokamaks Take Over
6. Fusion by Laser
7. One Big Machine
8. If Not Now, When?

Further Reading
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Author

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting history of the search for fusion power, "The energy source of the future and always will be". An in depth look at the personalities of the researchers, their ideas and frustrations as model after model fails to hold up to its promise. There are good technical descriptions of the various theories and devices that came and went along the way.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book on the history of fusion energy worldwide since its beginnings in the late 1940s. The author does a very good job of explaining the physics, and an even better job of presenting the case (with advantages and disadvantages) of pursuing fusion energy. The story surrounding the booms and busts of fusion energy up to the present is engagingly written, and very informative.

[Cecilia Van Der Merwe · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Fusion energy is the power source of the future, and always will be."
Fascinating read on the history of fusion energy and why it is proving so difficult to build a power plant. Highly recommended to laymen with an interest in fusion energy and plasma physics.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've ever wondered: 'where is fusion? I want that...' then you should read this book. Very interesting slice of history and recent advancements in the technology.