Quiz · The Promise of Fusion Energy

Question 1What is the speaker's main message about nuclear fusion?

It already supplies power stations with cheap clean electricity Scientific feasibility does not mean fusion is commercially viable yet It is far too dangerous ever to use as an energy source It works exactly like the nuclear fission used in current reactors

Question 2What did the famous American experiment actually achieve?

A small net gain of energy under controlled laboratory conditions A fully working fusion power station connected to the grid The complete elimination of all radioactive waste A reactor that no longer needs powerful magnets

Question 3Why are powerful magnets used in fusion experiments?

To heat the fuel up to millions of degrees To split the heavy atoms inside the reactor core Because no solid container can hold the extremely hot plasma To reduce the amount of electricity the experiments consume

Question 4Which statement is closest in meaning to the speaker's definition of fusion?

Heavy atoms are split apart to release a modest amount of energy Light nuclei are kept apart by extremely powerful magnetic fields Enormous energy is stored inside radioactive waste products Light atomic nuclei join together and release enormous energy

Question 5How does fusion differ from nuclear fission, according to the lecture?

Fusion splits heavy atoms while fission joins light ones together Fusion requires far higher levels of radioactive waste storage Fusion produces no long-lived radioactive waste of fission's kind Fusion consumes far more electricity than fission ever could

Question 6What joke have scientists made about practical fusion for decades?

It is always thirty years away from us It is only ten years away from us It was perfected decades ago in secret It will never work outside the sun

Question 7What does the speaker say hides behind that old joke about fusion?

A shortage of trained engineers in the fusion industry The genuine difficulty of heating the fuel to millions of degrees The refusal of governments to fund any fusion research The public's fear of all forms of nuclear technology

Question 8What was true of the early fusion experiments of the seventies?

They produced slightly more energy than they consumed They were conducted mainly in the south of France They consumed far more electricity than they ever produced They were abandoned because of public protests

Question 9When did the project's announcement finally come, contrary to expectations?

In early spring, exactly as first planned In midsummer, after a short technical delay In October, one month behind schedule In December, after being expected in spring

Question 10What will the next lecture in the series examine?

The international reactor being constructed in the south of France The design of power stations built in the seventies The safety record of existing fission reactors worldwide The manufacture of magnets for medical equipment