![]() This exact strategy was outlined recently by the United States in its Net-Zero Game Changers Initiative. ![]() We can afford to expand adoption of current renewable energy technology like solar, wind, and pumped hydro while also developing next-generation solutions for electricity production. It is crucial that investment in fusion is not at the cost of other forms of renewable energy and the transition away from fossil fuels. Fusion and renewables can go hand in hand In Australia, a company called HB11 is developing proton-boron fusion technology through a combination of high-powered lasers and magnetic fields. In November 2021, the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California achieved a historic step forward for inertial confinement fusion.īy focusing nearly 200 powerful lasers to confine and compress a target the size of a pencil’s eraser, they produced a small fusion “hot spot” generating fusion energy over a short time period. Magnets aren’t the only path to fusion either. In the United Kingdom, the government has invested in a program aimed at connecting a fusion generator to the national electricity grid.Īnd the next-step fusion energy experiment to demonstrate net power gain, ITER, is under construction in France and now about 80% complete. The US and UK governments are fostering public-private partnerships to complement their strategic research programs.įor example, the White House recently announced it would develop a “ bold decadal vision for commercial fusion energy”. But the holy grail of clean energy may still be on its way We won't have fusion generators in five years. A change in government attitudes has been crucial to this. Now, a growing number of private fusion companies around the world are forging ahead towards commercial fusion energy. Most of it was driven by government funding for fundamental science. Joining the public and privateįusion development has been progressing since the 1950s. Generally, the main challenge to overcome on our road to commercial fusion power is to provide environments that can contain the intense burning plasma needed to produce a fusion reaction that is self-sustaining, producing more energy than was needed to get it started. Christopher Roux, EUROfusion Consortium, CC BY A donut-shaped magnetic confinement device called a tokamak is one of the leading designs for a working fusion power generator, with many such experiments running worldwide.
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