A group of leading nuclear fusion scientists and researchers has submitted a report to the Department of Energy calling for a nuclear fusion pilot plant to be constructed and operational in the US by the 2040s.
The 80-page report, written by the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee over the course of two years, urges the US government to act decisively lest the country lag behind in fusion energy research and development in the coming decades.
“That (target date) is a line-in-the-sand type of thing,” Wayne Solomon, who served as a committee co-chair, said.
Commercial fusion reactors do not currently exist and fusion power has only been achieved for seconds at a time in the laboratory, with the old adage repeated among the nuclear research community that fusion power is “always 30 years away,” still ringing true.
The most promising nuclear fusion research remains the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, a multi-billion dollar international project under construction in France, of which the US is a partner. ITER is expected to enter operation in December 2025.
Also on rt.com China turns on nuclear-powered ‘artificial sun’, TEN TIMES hotter than the real thing
In December 2020, China successfully powered up its own experimental HL-2M Tokamak research reactor, which has been dubbed an “artificial sun,” which can fuse hot plasma and reach temperatures of over 150 million degrees Celsius.
The research reactor is part of China’s participation in the ITER project. (RT)
