Fusion Energy At Scale: Listed By White House as One of Five Priorities Towards Net-Zero
The Biden Administration announced a “Game Changers Initiative” to accelerate the innovation for meeting the net-zero by 2050 goal.
The Biden Administration announced a “Game Changers Initiative” to accelerate the innovation for meeting the net-zero by 2050 goal.
The Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP) published an Interim Panel Report, Harnessing the New Geometry of Innovation, laying out actions for the U.S. to strategically position itself as a long-term leader of fusion energy acceleration and commercialization. The report is the fourth interim panel report using the work collected by the SCSP over the past…
On March 17, 2022, the White House will convene a summit to chart a pathway towards American leadership in commercial fusion energy.
On Tuesday, October 19, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology hosted a discussion on “The Potential for Integrating Fusion into the U.S. Energy Grid” in the second day of a two day public meeting on Climate Change, Energy, and the Environment. The discussion with Dr. Richard Hawryluk, Chair of the National Academies…
Magnetic confinement: Plasma is heated to 100 million °C or more, then squeezed and held in place by strong magnetic fields, allowing many fusion reactions to occur. (Example: tokamaks, stellarators)
Inertial confinement: Tiny fuel pellets are struck by powerful lasers. The outer layer explodes outward, compressing the core to fusion conditions for a few nanoseconds, producing a brief but intense pulse of energy from each pellet. (Example: National Ignition Facility)
Hybrid systems: Combine compression (e.g., from lasers, plasma pistons, or mechanical impact) with moderate magnetic fields to reduce energy losses and improve confinement.
Electrostatic fusion: Uses high electric potentials to accelerate ions toward a central reaction zone, causing them to collide at high energies and fuse. The ions are guided and confined by electric fields rather than magnets, creating a compact environment for fusion reactions.