In 2001 my school physics class went on a field trip to the Joint European Torus (JET) fusion experiment close to Oxford, UK. That day, we learned that the JET condenses hydrogen nuclei and ‘bashes’ them together to produce helium. This is the reaction that takes place inside the sun and it produces a LOT of energy. However, the strong magnetic fields required to create stable plasmas at temperatures of up to 150,000,000°C - 10 times hotter than the centre of the sun - also consume a LOT of energy. Due to this, for the first 65 years of development, no fusion reactor produced more energy than it consumed. This, along with the high cost and extremely short lifespan of the refractories and other consumables used to contain a rotating swirl of plasma, as well as the sheer difficulty of the task itself, are just some of the major barriers to fusion becoming a viable source of energy. Hence the popular joke: Fusion is the power of the future... and always will be.
That was until 13 December 2022, when a team at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, US, announced the results of a fusion experiment that produced 120% of the energy fed to it. This is the ‘holy grail’ of fusion power and should not be played down. Indeed, US Congressman Don Beyer - speaking at the launch of a new White House fusion strategy earlier in 2022 - said that fusion has the potential to lift more people out of poverty than anything else ‘since the discovery of fire.’
Sounds wonderful, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. In order to make good on its promise to provide ‘limitless, cheap, zero-CO2 energy’ fusion reactors will have to carry out many more reactions than they can at present - and for longer durations. This will require further advances in heating and cooling technologies, control systems and - in the longer term - the development of commercially-viable fusion plants that can be operated without constant expert oversight.
While cheap, there is little chance of fusion energy actually being free. Fusion plants will have to be built, just like solar farms and wind turbines do. Accordingly, the first commerical fusion reactors will be expensive and the companies that build and operate them will want to see a return. Once there are more proven commercial examples, the scale of the opportunity could attract more operators to the sector, with a reduction in price the likely result. The longevity of the plants will be crucial to how much they can charge in the longer term. After all, there is no point building billions of dollars of power plant if it consumes its profits in consumables or breaks down before it breaks even.
So let’s assume that the plants are reliable. Where’s all the hydrogen coming from? Some might suggest green hydrogen from electrolysis using renewable energy sources. However, this leads into increasingly familiar questions about sourcing sufficient quantities of renewable power to produce the hydrogen. There is some good news though. Powering a cement plant electrically with power from fused hydrogen would be about four million times more efficient than burning that same hydrogen in the kiln.1
However, it is possible that none of these hurdles is as great as overcoming human nature itself. How would humans handle infinite, cheap, zero-CO2, ‘guilt-free’ energy? Practically infinite fusion power would mean unrestricted electrification of everything, including: transport, construction, heating and cooling technologies - a good work around for climate change - and factories of all kinds. On one hand, this would present the opportunity for more people to have their basic needs (and wants) met. The problem is that more and more products could become viewed as disposable, generating extreme volumes of waste and putting even greater pressure on natural resources and ecosystems than at present. The wealth of ‘Fusion Company X,’ if unchecked, could also present a major headache for governments and their citizens. Recent form suggests that it may not be wise to allow billionaires the reins of limitless energy - and of who can access it.
A more hopeful trajectory is that near infinite energy would also be used to tidy up the messes humans have already created, as well as powering another ‘holy grail;’ carbon capture and storage. This will require coordination between forward-thinking and resourceful governments and legislators, the type of which we are starting to see regarding climate change and biodiversity. Ultimately, fusion power has the potential to reshape our world. How we use it is up to us and, to paraphrase Spider Man, ‘With infinite power comes infinite responsibility!’
