Are we on the brink of a nuclear fusion breakthrough?

Caption

The National Ignition Facility used lasers to generate net energy from a pellet of fusion fuel in 2022. But the experiment is still a long way from truly producing more electricity than it requires. / Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Nuclear fusion could change the world. It would produce energy at lower costs than we generate it now without greenhouse gas emissions or long-term nuclear waste.

"Fusion is the ultimate energy source," says Phil Larochelle, a partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a private venture capital firm that's investing in fusion companies. "If we can get it to work it's basically infinite, free, accessible to all, and if we get it right, carbon-free," he says.

If we can get it to work.

It's an ambitious goal. Nuclear fusion is the same process that powers stars like the sun. Scientists have been promising fusion energy as a new, clean source of power for decades without commercial success. In the 1950s and '60s, governments poured money into research, hoping for clean, essentially limitless energy here on Earth.

Decades later, there is no commercial success to speak of.

But lately, billions of dollars from venture capitalists and tech entrepreneurs have flowed into the field. Companies like Helion, which raised $500 million in its last major fundraising round in 2021, are racing to build commercial fusion power plants and produce net energy in the next few years.

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Today's episode was produced by Rachel Carlson. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Geoff Brumfiel checked the facts, and Maggie Luthar was the audio engineer.