EnergyMaturity: Research
Fusion Energy
Generating power by fusing light atomic nuclei, the same process that powers stars, rather than splitting heavy ones.
Why does it matter?
Fusion would provide firm power with no long-lived waste and abundant fuel. It is a long-horizon bet, and honest timelines are measured in decades, not quarters.
How does it work?
Fuel is heated into a plasma and confined magnetically or compressed by lasers until fusion occurs. The released energy heats a working fluid to drive a turbine.
Where is it today?
Experiments have achieved scientific energy gain in a single shot. No device produces net electricity for a grid, and materials durability is largely unsolved.
Applications
- · Baseload electricity
- · Industrial process heat
Key challenges
- · Net electrical gain
- · Neutron damage to materials
- · Tritium fuel cycle
- · Capital cost
Advantages
- · Abundant fuel
- · No long-lived waste
- · Firm output
Infrastructure required
Superconducting magnets, tritium handling and very large capital programmes.