Fusion Commission Announcement and the International Players in the Global Fusion Ecosystem
Hello, I’m Ylli Bajraktari, CEO of the Special Competitive Studies Project. In this week’s edition of 2-2-2, we announce our co-chairs and the first four commissioners on the Commission on the Scaling of Fusion Energy, and SCSP’s Pieter Garicano, Nina Badger, and Nicholas Furst discuss the status of international fusion efforts. We have previously explored the PRC’s fusion strategy, as well as U.S. actions to counter it. In this issue we explore the international origins of fusion and how global players are working to achieve a groundbreaking form of energy generation.
Announcing Co-Chairs and Four Commissioners for the Commission on the Scaling of Fusion Energy
SCSP is excited to announce the first four commissioners on the Commission on the Scaling of Fusion Energy. This first-of-its-kind initiative will be co-chaired by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Senator Jim Risch (R-ID), and Ylli Bajraktari, President of SCSP. The first four commissioners to join this effort are: Dr. Kim Budil, Director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Hon. Paul Dabbar, CEO of Bohr Quantum Technology; Dr. Bob Mumgaard, co-founder and CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems; and Dr. David Kirtley, co-founder and CEO of Helion Energy. The Commission aims to position the United States at the forefront of the fusion energy race. Please find more information on the Commission and its co-chairs here.
The International Players in the Global Fusion Ecosystem
The quest for fusion energy has been international from the start. Practical research first became feasible in the aftermath of World War II, when British and American scientists pioneered pinch devices and stellarators. Both devices, however, faced the same fundamental problem: plasma instabilities limited temperatures and confinement times, the conditions needed to reach fusion ignition.
It would be the Soviet Union’s development of the tokamak — a doughnut-shaped chamber with magnetic coils to confine and heat plasma — that supercharged fusion research. Although the Moscow-based reactor was first operational in 1958, it would take 11 years until British scientists known as the “Culham Five” verified the Soviet results and heralded the start of the global tokamak boom.
Despite the competitive atmosphere of the Cold War, the seeds of international cooperation in fusion research began to sprout. Fusion results were regularly discussed at International Atomic Energy Agency meetings, fostering robust scientific exchange. In 1973, a meeting between Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev established the INTOR (INternational TOkamak Reactor) initiative, the first attempt at an international fusion project. A combination of weak governmental support, organizational and financial inefficiencies, and a lack of direct involvement from key technical personnel made for a slow start for global fusion collaboration, but the idea gained new life under Reagan and Gorbachev. Their work would culminate in the 1986 agreement between the United States, the Soviet Union, the European Union, and Japan to develop the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Organization, a historic collaborative fusion research and engineering effort aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of fusion power for energy generation.
ITER
ITER’s design, finalized in 2001 after years of multilateral negotiations, features a massive tokamak that dwarfs previous experiments. The reactor’s superconducting magnets, chilled to –269 degrees Celsius — almost absolute zero, the lowest temperature theoretically possible — are meant to generate magnetic fields strong enough to contain plasma heated to over 150 million degrees Celsius: hotter than the core of the Sun.
Such lofty goals were not without technical and political difficulties. Design work has faced persistent technical and political challenges since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 threatened to derail the project. The United States withdrew from ITER in 1998, citing cost concerns, only to rejoin in 2003. Then, debates raged over the reactor’s configuration: site selection became a contentious issue, with Japan and France vying to host the reactor. In 2005, Cadarache in southern France was ultimately chosen. As the project itself progressed, its membership grew as well: the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Korea entered in 2003, with India joining in 2005.
Construction finally began in 2010. However, the project has since been beset by delays and cost overruns. An initial budget of $6.3 billion has since grown to estimates exceeding $22 billion. Predictions for the start of the deuterium–tritium final operations phase, the point at which the reactor becomes a viable source of power by generating more energy than it consumes, have slipped from 2035 to 2039. The COVID-19 pandemic amplified critical supply chain issues. These hurdles have not only delayed the project’s research timeline, but also raised questions about the price tag. U.S. contributions to ITER currently amount to almost $250 million each year, roughly a third of the U.S. government’s total fusion expenditure. Moreover, the design for ITER’s massive tokamak — drawn up over two decades ago — is outdated. Substantial progress in magnet science means denser plasmas can be achieved in smaller reactors, significantly reducing costs.
Since 2013, several ITER partners have worked towards a new program, called “DEMOnstration power plant,” or DEMO. This program is meant to serve as the successor to ITER, using the advancements and lessons learned from it to implement industrial-scale fusion power generation for commercial use once viable. However, the U.S. government has opted out of a government-led DEMO program to allow private ventures to compete and innovate in its place. The United Kingdom declined an invitation to join ITER of its own accord following its exit from the European Union. China’s BEST reactor has now substituted the role of ITER in its roadmap.
Regardless of these setbacks, the ITER project lives on as the centerpiece of international fusion research. Though technical and budgetary constraints have given member states pause, this could serve as a window of opportunity to reimagine the longstanding international institution. In a world where fusion may very well reach commercial markets before the reactor is even built, there is a serious case to be made for redefining ITER’s role in the fusion landscape and reassessing U.S. investment in the international effort.
Beyond ITER: International Approaches
United Kingdom
Lessons from ITER have informed nations’ approaches to fusion projects. The United Kingdom has long been a leader in fusion energy, and following their exit from ITER in 2020, they have pushed ahead with a Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) program which looks to construct a fusion power plant by 2040. Fusion research in the United Kingdom traces its origins to the late 1940s, and has grown with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), a government research organization now dedicated to exploring fusion energy. In 1991, controlled fusion was accomplished for the first time in the U.K.-based tokamak called the Joint European Torus (JET). (JET recently broke another nuclear fusion energy record by achieving 69 megajoules of fusion energy for five seconds in February 2024 before the tokamak was retired.)
Simultaneously with STEP, the United Kingdom is building a flourishing commercial ecosystem. Its regulatory regime is seen by the industry as the global gold standard; it has removed fusion from the nuclear regulator to be treated wholly separately from fission. Increased private sector involvement has allowed companies such as Tokamak Energy and First Light Fusion to pursue alternative approaches, including Tokamak Energy’s advancements in high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets. The government’s announcement of its Fusion Futures Programme is focused on supporting fusion sector development and promoting British leadership in the field, backed by a commitment of up to £650 million. Other initiatives have strengthened the “delivery body” that will execute these missions and bolstered the infrastructure and workforce needed for success.
Russia
Like the United Kingdom, Russia — home of the tokamak — has a long history of fusion research and remains a (small) player in the fusion industry. Particularly notable is its emphasis on fusion–fission hybrid models, which typically use fusion reactions to produce neutrons that can then drive fission reactions in a controlled subcritical assembly. Such hybrids are globally unpopular: by introducing fission technologies, they diminish the safety and waste advantages of fusion. The Institute announced the first phases of development of a DEMO fusion neutron source (FNS) reactor in 2013 in tandem with the T-15MD tokamak. Despite its invasion of Ukraine, Russia remains an active participant within ITER, with 50 Russian citizens continuing to work on-site. The nation also made headlines in 2021 after the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow launched operations of their upgraded T-15MD tokamak. In 2023, the T-15MD tokamak achieved its first stable thermonuclear plasma, Institute president Mikhail Kovalchuk reported.
Rising Players
Beyond players with long-standing or significant fusion programs — China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — a number of recent entrants have emerged with serious fusion efforts.
Together, Japan, Germany, and South Korea form the core of a new wave of countries backing fusion. Thanks to their significant investments, experience with advanced technologies, and close relationships with the United States, their efforts should complement programs elsewhere in the West. For example, Japan produces its own silicon carbide composites — unlike the EU, United Kingdom, South Korea, and the United States — which are used to make the “breeding blankets” that generate more fuel to sustain the fusion reaction. In Germany, precision engineering companies have the capacity to benefit the Western fusion supply chain: for example, ZEISS produces high-precision optical systems for the machines built by ASML and run by TSMC. In Korea, a new firm, EnableFusion, seeks to bring the chip industry’s foundry model to the fusion space.
Japan
The first emerging player in fusion is Japan. In April 2023, the country released its Fusion Energy Innovation Strategy, aimed at accelerating fusion development and innovation through their strengths in these areas. The plan sets out to “industrialize fusion energy” over the next decade and achieve power generation by 2050, namely through the establishment of the Fusion Industry Council in 2023 and the creation of innovation hubs at the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST). Japan’s efforts gained significant momentum in late 2023 with the inauguration of JT-60SA, the world’s most powerful tokamak reactor. Built in collaboration with the European Union at a cost of €600 million, this facility in Naka is a milestone in fusion research. JT-60SA can achieve 41 megawatts of heating power, surpassing previous records held by tokamaks such as JET. In January of 2024, Japan hosted an International Workshop on Fusion Energy, aimed at addressing their ‘Moonshot 10’ from their Moonshot Research and Development program: “to [create] a dynamic society in harmony with the global environment and free from resource constraints, through diverse applications of fusion energy, by 2050.”
Additionally, Japan has taken concrete steps to foster a fusion industry ecosystem, establishing a fusion industry forum to address safety and technology standards and funding four companies in its first round of fusion energy investment. (Private fusion companies Kyoto Fusioneering and Helical Fusion were two recipients of the awards, alongside supplier companies LiSTie Corporation and MiRESSO Corporation.) These initiatives, coupled with international collaborations like the recent U.S.–Japan partnership on fusion commercialization, evidence Japan’s collaborative approach to fusion research.
Germany
In Germany, fusion research is accelerating markedly. Last year, its Federal Research Minister announced the country would make available €1 billion for fusion research by 2028. In March 2024, the government announced “Fusion 2040,” an initiative aimed at accelerating R&D with the goal of building a demonstration fusion power plant in Germany by 2040. On the regulatory side, Germany’s Committee for Education, Research and Technology Assessment held a recent hearing concerning the establishment of a favorable regulatory regime to spur fusion investment, innovation, and commercialization in Germany and the EU. The fusion companies that testified explained that laws clearly addressing the difference between nuclear fission and fusion are a sine qua non for a robust fusion industry — an approach similar to those taken by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.K. Environment Agency and Health & Safety Executive.
South Korea
Elsewhere, South Korea continues to expand its research footprint. Since 2008, South Korea has run the KSTAR project, a tokamak. It set a record in April 2024 by sustaining high-temperature plasma for 48 seconds, a crucial step towards achieving a net energy gain — when more energy is released by the reaction than is put into it, a necessary condition for commercial fusion energy. In the short term, the nation aims to confine plasma for 300 seconds by 2026. Its roadmap involves building an even more powerful next-generation fusion reactor in 2035.
This week, the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT announced plans to invest $866 million into developing nuclear fusion reactors, a major step in their commitment to the fusion effort. The endeavor, approved Monday by the Science Ministry’s National Fusion Energy Committee, is separate from KSTAR and ITER. Oh Yeong-kook, President of the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy, recently emphasized the need for public-private partnerships with newer fusion startups such as EnableFusion.
Looking Ahead
As fusion moves closer to the grid, international collaboration with our partners will become still more crucial. Moreover, efforts abroad will provide useful political and scientific lessons: for example, the United Kingdom’s policy regime is worth emulating as much as possible, while Russia’s fixation on fusion–fission hybrid models risks locking it out of commercial markets. In 2023, the U.S. government published “International Partnerships in a New Era of Fusion Energy Development,” a statement underscoring the importance of global engagement to address research challenges and establish international supply chains in fusion.
Although ITER remains the cornerstone of international collaboration, its delays and cost overruns require us to rethink how to leverage ITER’s strengths in an era of commercial fusion. A wise fusion policy should be mindful of the rising importance of the private sector and deliberate about America’s investment in ITER, as other nations lean towards parallel paths. The United States should prioritize investments that are conducive to faster iteration, U.S. leadership in fusion, and near-term commercialization.
The global fusion energy boom, spanning from national laboratories to bootstrapped startups, promises to accelerate progress towards the long-awaited goal of fusion power, potentially reshaping our energy systems, geopolitical relationships, and economic structures in the process. The United States will need to lean on the strengths of its allies — and be intentional about international collaboration moving forward.
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This provides a banquet for thought and must read again to understand the developments fully.
Thank you so very much for this! Very excited about the Commission on the Scaling of Fusion Energy. and look forward to your updates.