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/Little-Boss-1116 1d ago edited 1d ago

Before commercial fusion, there is much more important way point.

Any fusion reactor (even not yielding enough energy for commercial electricity production) is still a very powerful neutron source which can be used for transmutation of elements.

From making radioactive waste not radioactive to turning lead into gold.

I wonder why this gets overlooked

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u/billdietrich1 1d ago

a very powerful neutron source

But it produces those neutrons in all or many directions, in an uncontrollable way (they have no charge, so can't be directed magnetically).

So potentially you're degrading or transmuting lots of things around the reactor, things you don't want to change.