Scientists and big-name investors like Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates are placing their bets on nuclear technology that could essentially recreate a star on earth.

Yahoo Finance’s Akiko Fujita gets an exclusive look at the country’s largest magnetic fusion facility, DIII-D, where researchers are chasing clean energy through a process called nuclear fusion.

Unlike traditional nuclear fission, which splits a large atom apart, fusion smashes two atoms together – producing massive amounts of renewable energy without the release of harmful waste.

Tucked inside the heart of the operation lies the “tokamak.” The stakes are high in this vacuum chamber where temperatures can reach about ten times the core of the sun.

In order to commercialize, nuclear fusion facilities need to generate more energy than the amount of energy it takes to create a reaction. Success here can take us one step closer to charging our world through limitless power.

For more on our NEXT series, click here, and tune in to Yahoo Finance Live for more expert insight and the latest market action, Monday through Friday.

Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: Well, the process of fusion has long been hailed for its potential to create unlimited amounts of clean energy. But decades of research have yielded few breakthroughs to bring the technology to commercial use. Now there's hope that could change with the emergence of startups backed by major tech investors, including Sam Altman and Bill Gates. I went inside the country's largest magnetic fusion reactor for an exclusive look at how this technology works for our latest episode of Yahoo Finance's NEXT.

[AUDIO LOGO]

Tucked inside the country's largest fusion reactor, researchers are racing to unlock the promise of unlimited amounts of clean energy. We were invited in for an exclusive look.

In addition to this jumpsuit, I've got to put on a hairnet, I've got to put on gloves, some booties, so that I could protect the reactor from any elements that are likely to come inside. All right, let's go in.

- Arms first, heads first, and you're pulling and wiggling yourself in.

- And then right above you is the handle right here.

AKIKO FUJITA: OK. Do I stay on my side? Or can I step-- OK. Whoa. This is harder than it looks. Just get my feet up.

- Yeah.

AKIKO FUJITA: Like really slippery. Whoa. Wow.

- Nailed it. Welcome to D3D.

AKIKO FUJITA: This kind of feels like we're in space, right?

- Some people call it the mothership.

AKIKO FUJITA: It's officially known as the tokamak, a vacuum chamber made up of magnetic coils. Once it's turned on, the plasma created inside is 10 times hotter than the center of the sun.