Energy security

Why Turning Nuclear Fusion Into A Disruptive And Feasible Project May Require Private Entrepreneurs Like Elon Musk

...In a nutshell, the new way to facing the challenge of producing inexhaustible energy discovered by MIT scientists would imply taking care of the excess heat generated by fusion power plants using superconducting magnets that keep the hot plasma typically formed by deuterium (which can be obtained from all sorts of water) and tritium (which can be produced in the reactor with lithium) “from coming into contact with any part of the chamber” hence protecting it from a fundamental harm.

The new private endeavor has the following timeline. First, over the next three years, with financial support coming from ENI and others, efforts will be directed towards development of those magnets. Second, within the next 15 years, a new experiment will be built using those devices. The experiment will produce 100 MW of heat enough to power a small town. If everything goes right, it would be possible to put in place almost immediately the first nuclear fusion electric power plant with twice as much capacity similar “to that of most modern commercial electric power plants.”

This appears to be in sharp contrast with ITER’s critical path that aims at having the first nuclear fusion demonstration plant ready in 2035 and perhaps commercial implementation on the power grid not earlier than 2055 or 2060.