Some investors I know, my brother among them, are excited about nuclear fusion. Really excited. So I decided to find out why. Here’s what I learned:

Nuclear fusion powers the sun in a process where atoms are forced together at extremely high temperatures. This fusion forms a new atom minus a little bit of mass, the loss of which generates lots of energy.

Nuclear fusion is not to be confused with nuclear fission, used since the 1960s in power plants. As the word fission implies, it’s based on a process where atoms are broken apart to generate energy.

So here’s what’s exciting about fusion: it has no CO2 emissions, very little waste, produces more energy than fission, and would have a much smaller footprint than typical power plants. It is potentially a clean, scalable source of renewable energy. Very exciting indeed!

But then there’s the rub: There are many technological hurdles between here and full scale commercialization.

Recent Breakthroughs
Nuclear fusion relies on tremendous heat and pressure. It takes tens of millions of degrees to overcome resistance so that the atoms can fuse.
Is there a way to create the required heat and get more usable power out of the reaction than you put in? This problem has engaged researchers for 50 years. But there are a number of recent breakthroughs. These include:

1. Advances in high temperature superconducting magnets that improve the efficiency and performance of fusion reactors.
2. Alternative shapes of reactor chambers, which change how heat is captured to make electricity.
3. Breakthroughs in ways to heat the fuel using lasers or radio frequencies.
4. Experiments with alternative fuels that are more widely available and have higher energy output.
5. Progress in developing materials that can withstand the extreme temperatures and radiation in a fusion reactor.

What’s the Timeline?
So when can we expect nuclear fusion to come on line and replace coal, oil and gas? Experts are hotly debating this question.

The most optimistic group I could find is a startup called Helion Energy, founded by Open AI CEO Sam Altman. They have built six prototypes to date, and claim they will have a 50MW fusion power plant operating by 2028. Their choice of fuels and reactor design are unique. And the company claims they can produce ample electricity using pulsed reactions, instead of sustained reactions over time.

Hopes are high among people like Bill Gates, too. He has invested in Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a spinoff from MIT with an advanced technology campus in Massachusetts. The company has raised over $2 billion in private capital. According to a company press release, a prototype reactor will be operational by 2025, with a power plant on the grid promised by the early 2030s.
The Department of Energy (DOE) is on board with fusion too. The agency has allocated $600-800 million annually to fusion projects over the past several years, including the two projects mentioned here.

Work in the fusion space is happening at a furious pace. Companies want to get fusion up and running quickly in order to reduce carbon emissions. Encouraging news.
Can nuclear fusion save us? It will not get us off the hook for spewing toxics, decimating soils, or producing toxic plastics. But as fusion technology advances, it could have a huge effect on global warming.

For further reading:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/05/10/1072812/this-startup-says-its-first-fusion-plant-is-five-years-away-experts-doubt-it/
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/02/23/1045122/fusion-power-mit-startup-commonwealth/