“Who runs the world?” , it’s the energy!! While other sources of energy are being used, man has not been able to replicate the Sun’s energy in its full scale yet.

The Sun is powered by “nuclear fusion” which is the collision of  two hydrogen nuclei at 10mn deg celsius, releasing colossal amounts of energy. The high temperature allows the nuclei to overcome their electrical repulsion and the immense gravity of the Sun forces them to fuse together. 

Fusion in reactors is achieved by combining the nuclei of Deuterium and Tritium nuclei at 100 million degree celsius, converting them into plasma to form a Helium nucleus and releasing an energetic neutron.Then using one of the three confinement methods ie. magnetic, inertial or laser , the plasma is held in the reactors to substitute for the sun’s gravity.  The most common fusion reactors are Tokamaks and Stellarators.

It is estimated that by 2040, we will witness a 20% increase in global energy demand. Reduction of fossil fuel usage is needed to meet the net zero emission targets by 2050. 

The current global energy mix looks as follows. 

As of 2024, 440 nuclear fission plants are operated worldwide due to the ease of sustaining fission in small reactors, however fusion is safer than fission as it does not leave any nuclear waste and the fuel for fusion is abundant.

Nuclear fusion generates nearly 10 million times more energy than fossil fuel and 4 times more than fission. Despite 94,000 MWh/kg energy potential ,fusion has many challenges namely 

• Difficulty in achieving ignition  
• Tritium is not found naturally, but produced using a technique called breeding 
• The current record  of sustaining the fusion reaction is 22 min achieved by France’s CEA West
• Supply chain constraints for semiconductors, magnets, and capacitors
• Skill set gap

Having said that ,the quest to develop fusion energy is on, with multiple startups supported by both private and government funding, exploring various methods.

Multiple application areas of fusion energy are –

Space – Fuel-based propulsion lacks the thrust per kilogram needed for interstellar travel. Fusion-Driven Rockets (FDR) revolutionize space propulsion by directly transferring fusion energy to the propellant, significantly reducing travel time and making deep-space exploration more feasible.

Medical – Fusion-driven production of medical isotopes like molybdenum-99 used in cancer treatment  can drastically reduce nuclear waste . The proton-boron fusion therapy (PBFT)  can be  used to selectively destroy the tumours. 

Electricity – The growing computational demand of AI and carbon free electricity is addressable using fusion energy . Microsoft has signed the world’s first-ever deal to purchase 50MW of  fusion energy/year from Helion energy.

Transport – Superabundant energy would enable adoption of electric commuter planes, autonomous electric trucks, and cargo drones. Several companies are also exploring how nuclear fusion can provide clean, efficient energy for EV charging stations.

Agriculture-  By 2050, with 9.7 billion people, feeding everyone will require innovations like vertical farming, that is feasible on a mass scale through abundant fusion energy.

While engineering challenges are being tackled, global socioeconomic challenges persist. 70% of carbon emissions are made by developing countries who will not have the infrastructure to generate fusion energy . This will create more environmental disparity and could derail us from achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.