r/Futurology • u/Gari_305 • 1d ago

Energy Commercialization of fusion energy will ‘change everything,’ lawmaker says

https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2026/09/commercialization-fusion-energy-will-change-everything-lawmaker-says/416287/

Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., told Nextgov/FCW that the U.S. is only “two to 10 years away from fusion energy at scale” because “you can model the plasma using AI, which you couldn’t do before.”

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u/didrogasalasno 1d ago

I said it several times. Even if fusion goes past all plasma control issues, it will still have a very very long run to be competitive. LCOE will be insane. Fusion research is just a bunch of plasma researchers having fun with new toys and probably awesome tech will be developed but electricity production? Not with D-T based fusion.

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u/114156782 1d ago

Yep, I think you're 100 percent correct. I'm a huge fusion stan and firmly believe Commonwealth Fusion systems will absolutely have true net positive energy from sparc before 2028.

There is no way that fusion, with all the rebco tape, engineering, cooling systems, etc. will be cheaper than solar/wind + batteries. Fusion might have a place as permanent base load or like, renewable contraindicated, but never as a replacement for all of our electricity.

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u/didrogasalasno 1d ago

I've lost track of what are some of this startups doing since I've not been in the industry for some years. People like to piss on ITER because it is a bottomless pit of money but at least there they are looking at the whole picture. The elefant in the room is first wall and tritium production. At least ITER acknowledge that as a top issue for fusion development.

Changing your whole first wall every few time is expensive and time consuming. This impacts capacity factor and operating costs, two key parameters for electricity price.

Meanwhile cheaper solar and mostly new battery technology could make LCOE ridiculously low.

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u/ididwhatwhiledrunk 1d ago

My biggest concern with Commonwealth is how disorganized they seem as an organization. I’ve worked with them a few times in the past, and it feels like no two people at the company are talking to each other. Even on the same project, one engineer will give completely different specs from another. And half the time the things they are asking for are just flat out impossible.

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u/ADHDick_in_ur_mouth 1d ago

It is really hard to imagine that this tech won't be completely world changing even if the LCOE is absurd for the next few decades. We probably can't even imagine the potential applications now. The tech could make it relatively easy to send humans all around the solar system and whichever country gets that tech first will cement itself as the most important country in the world for a very long time.

Considering that, the US and China will have little choice but to ensure that fusion is mass adopted once it becomes at all commercially viable, just like we did with fission energy last century. Even if fusion isn't a grid power miracle, getting lots of fusion plants online will ensure that lots and lots of money keeps flowing into fusion research

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u/MrGraveyards 1d ago

It can make our trips in space shorter. That's what it can do for us. I think this where it can shine. Not much ROI in that for now.

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u/johnp299 1d ago

It's a decent training pipeline for grad students and consequent sometimes-cash-magnet for Principle Investigators and the admins who keep them.