Congressional Hearing on Fusion Energy Research and Technology Development
On Wednesday, November 17 the Energy Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology holds a hearing to examine the current status of fusion energy research and development (R&D) activities carried out by the U.S. Department of Energy, the private sector, and internationally. The livestream is below.
The hearing will also consider next steps for Congress and the Administration to take in response to recent reports from the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee and the National Academies that provide roadmaps for fusion energy R&D and commercialization pathways over the next decade and beyond.
This will be the first hearing to focus solely on fusion energy in Congress since 2018. Even then, the majority of the current members of the Fusion Industry Association had not yet been formed. That number includes Commonwealth Fusion Systems, whose CEO Bob Mumgaard will be one of the witnesses. This is an important update to Congress and the public at a timely moment, as Congress considers new activity to support fusion.
WITNESSES
Dr. Troy Carter, Director, Plasma Science and Technology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles and Chair, Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee Long Range Planning Subcommittee
Dr. Tammy Ma, Program Element Leader for High Energy Density Science, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Dr. Robert Mumgaard, CEO, Commonwealth Fusion Systems
Dr. Kathryn McCarthy, Director, U.S. ITER Project Office
Dr. Steven Cowley, Director, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
The charter of the hearing gives an excellent overview of the state of the art in fusion energy research, the important work by the fusion science community to prioritize energy as the goal of government fusion research, and the progress towards real breakthroughs in fusion.
This post will be updated to add links to prepared testimony and the video of hearing. Further details can be found on the House Science Committee website.
