Re:The Law of Thermodynamics (Score 5, Informative)

I am a Nuclear Enginneer,and work in Britain on the Joint European Torus Fusion Device. Check it out... http://www.fusion.org.uk When we fuse together the hydrogen, the helium formed is more stable and highly energetic. The thing to consider here is potential energy too. Just as there is chemical potential energy in the gun powder of a bullet, which allows the weapon to be fully automatic, so there too is nuclear potential energy. For large enough plasmas it is possible to use the highly energetic helium to sustain the fusion reaction, in a process known as ignition, so more energy can be retrieved than was put in. If all energies are considered, no laws are violated. You are right about the electricity generating process. The use of steam pressure and turbines is limited by the laws of thermodynamics, namely the Carnot cycle, so can only ever be approximately 40% efficient. The next step is the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). As the politicians couldn't decide whether to build it in Japan or France, Europe has declared its going to build it anyway, and we're now just waiting for people to take sides :)