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A question about nuclear energy


There's a lot of excitement about humanity being on the cusp of finally mastering thermonuclear fusion because through it we'll be able to access two orders of magnitude more energy than we currently do with nuclear fission. My question is, do or will we use this energy in any direct way? Let me explain what I mean.

Right now we use fission to turn water into steam which turns wheels. That's basically it. However, since we were already been doing this since the Industrial Revolution with steam engines and coal power stations it, to me, wasn't really that huge a revolution.We simply discovered a new way to boil larger quantities of water more efficiently with less pollution. As far as I know we don't use the energy from fission directly.

So will fusion be the same? Are just going to be using this newfound abundance of energy to turn water into steam in order to turn wheels? Or are there new, direct applications of this energy that I am unaware of?

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