9/9/2023 0 Comments Nuclear fusion vs fission costThere will be no economical nuclear fusion by 2050, I can guarantee you that.”Įven advocates of fusion don’t dispute this. “If it is ever going to be done, it will be too late for that. “Fusion cannot help in a zero carbon strategy,” Haverkamp said. “The running gag is that nuclear fusion is always fifty years away,” said Jan Haverkamp, nuclear energy specialist at the lobby group Greenpeace, which has opposed fusion since at least 2005. And last year, the European Court of Auditors warned of further cost increases and delays. The US has been a particularly skeptical partner, at one point suspending payments in 2008. “The money we are spending on projects like ITER could be used for other developments” such as existing renewable energy sources and the development of hydrogen as a fuel, Andresen said.įusion skeptics point to decades of unfulfilled promise and repeated delays and cost overruns at ITER, which is funded by a 35 country consortium including the US, EU, China, Russia, India and the UK. From an economic perspective, it’s inefficient,” said Rasmus Andresen, German Green MEP who earlier this month put forward an amendment to the EU’s 2022 budget calling ITER a “false climate solution.” “From an ecological perspective, it’s not future proven. They argue the technology is an unproven and expensive distraction from energy saving measures that could be funded right now.īy mid-century, the point at which the EU aims to be carbon neutral on current timelines, fusion will not have made any serious contribution to energy production. “I think fusion should be discussed.”īut green politicians and campaigning groups have long wanted to end backing for the biggest fusion project of them all, the prototype ITER reactor in the south of France. “To have a conference about climate change, and the necessity for clean energy, and not to talk about the thing that could make the greatest impact, is just a joke,” said Melanie Windridge, UK director of the Fusion Industry Association. Now the industry wants it taken seriously as a climate change solution at COP26. With a number of recent fusion breakthroughs in the private sector, some countries have started to include fusion in their green energy plans. This comes without the risk of meltdown and the extremely long-lived radioactive waste generated by current nuclear fission reactors.įor decades, nuclear fusion has tantalisingly held out the promise of virtually unlimited power if only it could be harnessed. As politicians and environmentalists prepare to discuss the world’s response to accelerating global warming at the upcoming COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, there’s one technology that is still unsure if it has a seat at the table: nuclear fusion.Īs the process that powers stars, fusion merges specific forms of hydrogen to create helium, unleashing vast amounts of energy.
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