Nuclear power 2.0: When will fusion energy arrive?

Handelsblatt Green & Energy Nuclear power 2.0: When will fusion energy arrive?
More and more countries are investing billions in nuclear fusion research. In fact, the dream of fusion energy is getting closer – albeit very slowly.

Düsseldorf The sun is a star. And this star generates gigantic amounts of energy. What if we could create an artificial sun here on Earth that generates vast amounts of energy? Coal, oil and gas would become a thing of the past almost at a stroke.

People have been trying to do this for almost 100 years. To artificially create the fusion reactor of the sun. To date, however, it has not been possible to replicate a solar reactor on Earth. But with a view to the climate and fuelled by the energy crisis, fusion energy has been a much-discussed topic again for a few years. And there is indeed initial progress.

Reason enough for us to take a closer look. How does fusion energy work? Why is the breakthrough so difficult? And how can it help in the fight against climate change when it is not yet certain that there will ever be a real fusion power plant? This is what the new episode of Handelsblatt Green & Energy with nuclear researcher Hartmut Zohm from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics is all about.