clipped from: news.softpedia.com   
This picture, of the hydrogen bomb IvyMike, shows the only fusion reactions thus far obtained on Earth

The concept of nuclear fusion is something that scientists dream about ever since the mid 1940s, after the fission reaction was first obtained, and the first atom bomb was created. Since then, nuclear energy became a part of our daily lives, with plants being built all across the globe, from Korea to India, the US, China, and Russia. Smaller countries, such as Romania and Bulgaria, also possess nuclear energy, providing electricity to a large percentage of their national grids.

 
Nuclear fusion offers the promise of unlimited amounts of free, clean energy. The California-based Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (LLNL) and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), through its Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST), based at Oxford, are the spearheads of current development in this direction.