A popular joke about nuclear fusion is that it’s always just ten years away, or fifty. Every breakthrough in fusion technology seems to put its commercial use just out of reach, but enticingly close enough to secure more funding for the technology. Now, in the face of what could be massive demand from artificial intelligence data centers, utilities are looking at fusion with hope once again. Brian Martucci reports for Utility Dive:
Commercial fusion power still exists only in theory because sustaining an earthbound atom-smashing reaction at temperatures hotter than the sun’s core is a formidable technical challenge. For years, scientists warned that commercial fusion power was always 50 years off.
Now, they’re not so sure.
In late 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said it had achieved a vital breakthrough. For the first time, scientists there had created and briefly sustained a fusion reaction that generated more energy than it consumed – a threshold called “net energy gain” or “Q>1.”
The lasers that sparked the reaction consumed about 90 kW of electricity over a span measured in nanoseconds, said Patrick Poole, an LLNL research physicist involved in the breakthrough.
Action Line: Whether fusion delivers tomorrow or in 50 years, electricity demand is rising, and artificial intelligence is forcing utilities to look for new sources of generation. Click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
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