102. Could Fusion Energy Transform the Power Industry By 2035?

Fusion occurs when two atoms slam together to form a heavier atom, such as when two hydrogen atoms fuse to form one helium atom. A tremendous amount of energy is released in the process. This is the same process that powers the sun. In the sun's core, where temperatures reach 15,000,000C, hydrogen atoms are in a constant state of agitation. As they collide at very high speeds, the natural electrostatic repulsion that exists between the positive charges of their nuclei is overcome and the atoms fuse. Without fusion, there would be no life on Earth. Significant research has been done to better understand the fusion process since the concept was first theorized in the 1920s. Scientists have answered most of the key physics questions behind fusion. Today, in southern France, 35 nations are collaborating to build the world's largest tokamak—a magnetic fusion device designed to prove the feasibility of fusion as a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy. The ITER project, as it is known, is expected to be the first fusion device to produce “net energy,” which is the term used when the total power produced during a fusion plasma pulse surpasses the thermal power injected to heat the plasma. ITER could be the first fusion device to maintain fusion for long periods of time, and it is expected to be the first fusion device to test the integrated technologies, materials, and physics regimes necessary for the commercial production of fusion-based electricity. “I’m optimistic. I think in 10 to 15 years, we could have a commercial fusion energy plant producing electricity on the grid,” Chuck Goodnight, lead partner in the U.S. on U.S. Nuclear Energy as part of Arthur D. Little’s Global Energy & Utilities practice, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. If Goodnight’s prediction is correct, the entire landscape of power generation could be transformed not only in the U.S., but also around the world. “In the 1950s, we had very few nuclear power plants, and then in the U.S. within 35 years or so we had 100,” Goodnight said.