U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry initiated a comprehensive international strategy on Tuesday aimed at advancing nuclear fusion technology, emphasizing its potential as a crucial tool in combating climate change.
The initiative, encompassing 35 nations, will concentrate on research and development, supply chain challenges, and regulatory and safety considerations.
Speaking at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, Kerry expressed optimism, stating, “There is potential in fusion to revolutionize our world.” Fusion, replicating the process that powers the sun, involves using lasers or magnets to create heat and pressure, smashing two light atoms into a denser one and releasing significant energy.
Despite the promise of generating vast amounts of clean, unlimited power without long-lasting radioactive waste, hurdles remain for fusion to contribute to commercial electricity. Challenges include achieving sustained energy output in experiments and addressing regulatory, construction, and siting obstacles for new power plants.
Britain and the United States signed a collaboration agreement on fusion on November 8. They joined other nations such as Australia, China, Germany, and Japan in pursuing fusion technology. While a breakthrough in fusion was achieved in August at a U.S. national lab using laser beams, scientists acknowledged that the net energy output from the experiment was only approximately 0.5% of the energy invested in the lasers.
The two main types of fusion differ in their approaches, with one utilizing lasers to concentrate energy on a gold pellet containing hydrogen, and the other employing powerful magnets to trap plasma, heating gaseous hydrogen to about 100 million degrees Fahrenheit (55 million degrees Celsius).
