Opinion

January 5, 2023

Nuclear fusion: The bet that Europe should have won

The EU delay on fusion is a scandal and a shame for an energy-embattled continent


Andre Loesekrug-Pietri ©Friends of Europe

When the US Department of Energy announced last month that the first positive-energy nuclear fusion operation at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California had been conducted using inertial confinement fusion technology — which consists of bombarding hydrogen plasma with super-powerful lasers — it marked an historic event. Until now, fusion has always required more energy than it has produced, but the experiment at the NIF released more energy than was pumped in by the lab’s lasers.

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André Loesekrug-Pietri

Andre Loesekrug-Pietri is chairman & scientific director of the Joint European Disruptive Initiative (JEDI), the European initiative for disruptive innovation (www.jedi.foundation and @eurojedi)

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