![]() The first major investment of $50 million was announced by the Department of Energy in September, 2022. The noteworthy development in the US is that the country has decided to invest significantly in the private fusion sector, in line with the Bold Decadal Vision. Further, the EU is working with Japan on three Japan-based fusion projects aimed to complement the ITER. The EU accounts for 45% of the funding for the ITER project, and has decided to provide $6 billion for it for the period 2021-2027. When it comes to the public sector, the US, EU, UK and Japan are heavily focusing on fusion. The sector has seen the emergence of eight new companies since the 2021 Global Fusion Industry survey, bringing the total number of fusion energy companies to 33, with six of them having raised more than $200 million. When it comes to energy density, nuclear fusion is four times more energy-dense than nuclear fission and almost four million times more dense than fossil fuels. For instance, inertial-confinement-fusion cost could be as low as $25 per MWh, according to research published in Philosophical Transactions of-the Royal Society journal. This brings us to nuclear fusion, which is much more cost competitive and energy-dense than nuclear fission, fossil fuels, as well as solar, hydro and wind energy. Why Fusion is The Holy Grail of Clean Energy? Moreover, the risks of accumulative radioactive waste, nuclear weapons proliferation and nuclear meltdowns cannot be ignored. In addition to cost, the nuclear fission is not exactly emissions-free when secondary emissions from uranium mining and refinement are accounted for. ![]() For instance, fission energy costs an average of $150 per MegaWatt Hour (MWh), compared to $81 for gas power plants and $74 for coal-fired power plants, according to numbers from Bloomberg. However, nuclear fission comes with problems of its own. Some stakeholders have pushed for nuclear fission, which is much more energy-dense than fossil fuels, as a viable and clean alternative. The fact that fossil fuels’ share in the global energy mix reduced by just 0.1% from 2009 to 2019 is a clear indication of this. The world needs to transition to net zero emissions conservatively by 2050 to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.ĭespite the hype around energy sources like wind, hydro and solar, they are not remotely energy-dense for the needs of a civilization of our economic scale, even as they’ve become more cost competitive. However, carbon emissions from fossil fuels have been wreaking havoc on the climate, pushing the world further into existential crisis. Įnergy is the engine of the global economy and fossil fuels make up most of the energy supply. You can skip our detailed analysis of recent developments in fusion energy and go directly to 5 Most Advanced Countries in Nuclear Fusion. ![]() In this article, we take a look at the 10 most advanced countries in nuclear fusion.
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