Mark Suppes, a web designer for Gucci, has a unique night job. Suppes is working to harness the power of the sun in a way that can help fuel the world. As the U.S. contemplates its nuclear future and other countries around the world look to harness nuclear power, the 32-year-old works to build a sustainable nuclear reactor in his Brooklyn neighborhood.  

Suppes tinkers around on his pet project in a warehouse across from residential apartments on a tree-lined street.  It is perfectly safe, say experts, and as long as the parts are purchased legitimately, it is all perfectly legal in the U.S.

Nuclear fusion doesn't rely on radioactive material and would be a clean power source.  It does not require uranium or plutonium fuel, which are required for nuclear fission reactions. 

Suppes has used $35,000 of his own funds and $4,000 that he received from investors to purchase parts that he bought on eBay for the project. 

According to BBC News, Suppes goal is to build a device that produces more energy than it takes to power it; a goal that scientists have been trying to achieve for more than 50 years.

"I was inspired because I believed I was looking at a technology that could actually work to solve our energy problems, and I believed it was something that I could at least begin to build," Suppes told the BBC.

"I really started from scratch.  I was a web developer. I've always been interested in this. It's exciting. I've learned so much and mastered so many skills that I didn't know about before."

Suppes uses a bubble detector to pinpoint the energy, which has been hard to detect.   The bubble detector is gel-filled.  A leftover neutron travels through the gel when fusion occurs and a bubble is created.   Suppes recorded an emergence of four bubbles in less than three hours in early June.  He believes that he achieved fusion at this time.

Bill Gates has made plans to collaborate with Toshiba to create a nuclear reactor that wouldn't need to be refueled for 100 years.

Suppes is the 38th independent amateur physicist in the world recognized as creating a working fusion reactor.