German plasma success raises nuclear fusion hopes

A German nuclear fusion experiment has produced a special super-hot gas which scientists hope will eventually lead to clean, cheap energy. The helium plasma - a cloud of loose, charged particles - lasted just a tenth of a second and was about one million degrees Celsius. It was hailed as a breakthrough for the Max Planck Institute's stellarator - a chamber whose design differs from the tokamak fusion devices used elsewhere. The Sun's energy is created by fusion. Physicists are in a worldwide race to create stable fusion devices that could not only mimic the Sun but release abundant energy, without the volumes of toxic waste generated by nuclear fission - the splitting of the atom.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35074848

It`s storys like these that make me wonder ,would it not be safer to pour loads of money in to the space program,so that eventually with a base on mars and the moon so they could test this very clever dangerous shit some where else first ?........................................................alternatively i may have just seen way to much scfi

fusion is not inherently dangerous korban

if the magnetic fields which enclose the plasma collapse the plasma will touch the (relatively) cold surface of the containment vessel be chilled and go out. The reaction will instantly collapse. added to that is the fact that if the containment vessel is breached the inrush of of air would also "kill" the reaction. the worst that could happen is that a gram or two of radioactive hydrogen/helium would be released.

this would be rapidly diluted and dispersed and in fact would rise up in the atmosphere and join the rest of the isotopes up there

the worst hydrogen isotope would be tritium with a half life of only 12.3 years and is a beta emmitter so not "too" dangerous

fusion recators are millions of times safer than fission types, and produce virtually no waste...