Fusion – Ria Lina, Yasmin Andrew and Howard Wilson

What It Covers

Nuclear fusion energy development faces plasma turbulence challenges requiring 200 million degree temperatures and magnetic confinement. UK's STEP reactor targets 2040s grid connection, with commercial plants potentially arriving in 2050s using seawater deuterium and lithium fuel.

Key Questions Answered

• •Fusion fuel efficiency: One bathtub of seawater deuterium combined with lithium from one to two laptop batteries provides enough fusion fuel to generate an entire human lifetime's electricity needs, demonstrating the extraordinary energy density of fusion reactions.
• •Plasma confinement complexity: Fusion plasma turbulence requires solving six-dimensional problems tracking particle position and velocity in three dimensions each. Without plasma turbulence, fusion would have worked decades ago, making it the primary technical barrier to commercial deployment.
• •Magnetic field breakthrough: High-temperature superconducting coils developed since the 1980s now enable much stronger magnetic fields on tokamaks, directly improving plasma confinement. This technology took thirty years from discovery to practical application in fusion reactors.
• •STEP timeline projection: UK's spherical tokamak at West Burton will begin operations in 2040, delivering hundreds of megawatts to the grid. Commercial fusion plant fleets will be designed during the 2040s, with first commercial plants coming online in the 2050s.