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Welcome to the inquiry with me, Tanya Beckett.

One question for expert witnesses and an answer.

The brilliance of the sun has been a source of wonder for humankind for thousands of years.

Ancient Greeks believed it to be a ball of burning molten metal.

But nearly a century ago, it was discovered that what allowed the sun to emit such immense energy was a nuclear reaction.

And that reaction was called fusion.

If it could be copied on Earth, it would change everything.

The world's population would have a supply of endless energy by using very few of its resources.

And for the last 100 years, the battle has been on to derive usable energy from fusion.

For the last half a century, the promise has been that the goal was only a couple of decades away.

In February in the UK County of Oxfordshire, scientists claim they had managed to make it work.

But only for five seconds.

So this week on the inquiry, we're asking, will nuclear fusion solve our energy problems forever?

Part 1. What is fusion?

In its simplest terms, nuclear fusion is when two or more atoms come together to make one single atom.

And in the process, create large amounts of heat.

A tiny little bit of mass can make a very, very large amount of energy.

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