Based on the bound photon model, matter contains two mutually independent energy confinement systems: one is the strong interaction potential energy stored between nucleons inside atomic nuclei, and the other is high-energy gamma photon energy storage confined by force fields inside protons and neutrons. The two types of energy storage differ fundamentally in release conditions, energy density and safety boundaries. Taking the unified physical image of "strong interaction potential energy equivalent to a compressed spring", this paper conducts quantitative analysis using a plain-text nuclear reaction expression without superscripts or subscripts, clarifying the composition of reactive particles, the law of energy distribution and the internal mechanism of mass defect. It demonstrates that magnetic confinement tokamak devices only utilize inter-nucleon potential energy at the atomic nucleus level, without destroying the internal confinement structure of protons and neutrons, and there is no risk of releasing high-energy gamma photons confined inside nucleons. This paper systematically analyzes the inherent defects of theoretical concepts such as particle catalysis and full mass-energy conversion: the energy levels of chemical catalysis and strong interaction differ by a million times, making it impossible to regulate nuclear confinement fields across scales. Complete release of all gamma photons inside nucleons will generate uncontrollable local intense radiation and energy detonation, which cannot be realized in engineering. In contrast, tokamak devices rely on toroidal magnetic fields to confine high-temperature plasma and drive controlled light nuclear fusion artificially. The direct product of fusion is stable He4, which does not produce any radioactive substances itself. The only trace radiation sources inside the device are fuel T and neutron-activated components. Both feature weak radiation penetration and extremely short half-lives. Mature engineering technologies including airtight sealing, shielding, low-activation materials and T circulation recovery can completely isolate hazards. There are no long-lived radioactive wastes with half-lives of ten thousand years as seen in nuclear fission. Fuels can be massively extracted from seawater, making tokamak fusion the optimal technical route for large-scale clean energy for humanity in the medium and long term. This paper clarifies the micro underlying mechanism of fusion energy release, and puts a complete set of optimization ideas for tokamak magnetic field configuration, steady-state plasma control and heating systems based on the strong potential energy model, providing a self-consistent unified theoretical support for the iterative optimization of controlled fusion engineering.
Jiaqing Yan (Fri,) studied this question.