At a recent House Science Committee hearing, fusion experts highlighted recent breakthroughs in the field and urged the U.S. to embark on a path to build a pilot fusion power plant in the coming decades.
Scientists and their rich backers are edging closer to what some say is a pipe dream
Leaders in U.S. fusion science told a House panel yesterday that inadequate Department of Energy support was holding back development of a proposed $6 billion pilot reactor that is key to commercializing the carbon-free power by 2050.
The ancient village of Culham, nestled in a bend of the River Thames west of London, seems an unlikely launching pad for the future. But next year, construction will start here on a gleaming building of glass and steel that could house what many people consider to be an essential technology to meet demand for…
The nuclear fusion startup Helion, which announced recently that it has raised $500 million, says it has developed new technologies that may make nuclear fusion viable — practically, economically and environmentally.
If I am brutally honest, there is only one motto I would give to the movement to stem climate change after the Glasgow summit: “Everyone wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.”
Excitement about fusion energy is growing. The international ITER project in France, which counts China, India, Europe, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States as its partners, is starting to assemble the world’s most powerful fusion experiment.
Recent technological breakthroughs and a surge in private funding have reignited interest in nuclear fusion, the atomic reaction that powers the sun and other stars.
The march towards fusion energy gain, required for commercial fusion energy, is not always visible. Progress occurs in fits and starts through experiments in national laboratories, universities, and more recently at private companies.
For decades, the promise of harnessing the power of fusion on a commercial scale to create vast amounts of carbon-free energy has hovered just out of reach for scientists. At last that tantalizing dream appears closer to reality and the cash is starting to flow.