Why Tech Billionaires Are Investing in Fusion Power

At a time of climate change, tech billionaires are investing their wealth into nuclear fusion energy as an ideal long-term solution to our energy woes. Fusion power promises lower costs and greater efficiency over other technologies available today, providing more long-term relief than other approaches can.

PitchBook data shows that venture investors invested a record $3.4 billion into nuclear startups last year, with several moving beyond the science project stage faster than anticipated towards commercialization.

1. It’s a zero-carbon energy source

For decades, physicists have dreamed of harnessing the power of stars to create fusion reactors to power our electric grid. Such reactors would reportedly produce limitless energy with no carbon dioxide emissions or radioactive waste left behind.

Technology employing this form of nuclear energy entails smashing hydrogen nuclei into helium nuclei to form heavier and more powerful atoms that produce energy more efficiently than fission, the form used today to make power.

Recent experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California saw scientists successfully create nuclear fusion at their massive target chamber called National Ignition Facility - marking a monumental success in creating zero-carbon power plants with affordable electricity generation capabilities.

One of the primary challenges in nuclear fusion lies in creating the conditions needed to fuse together light nuclei of fuel sources, using lasers shot into a chamber where temperatures of 100 million degrees and pressures 100 times that of Earth's atmosphere are generated. Lasers activate this process by turning fuel sources into plasma-like light-sensitive particles that emit energy upon impact with laser light beams.

Fusion power remains decades away from becoming an attractive power source, although recent results from an experimental nuclear fusion plant can produce enough power to boil 60 kettles of water - an important milestone toward commercial viability of this technology.

Fusion power poses another significant barrier: radioactive waste will result from its operation, although supporters contend it won't remain radioactive for too long and reach safe levels with time.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson - best known for battling Tesla founder Elon Musk to launch commercial space flights - have invested in firms seeking to commercialize this technology. Fusion technology at these firms is far superior than what was being developed at Lawrence Livermore; however, hurdles must still be cleared in its way towards market readiness.

2. It’s a big business

Fusion energy's appeal lies in its potential to deliver large-scale power that is both carbon neutral and free of long-term radioactive waste. Today's power plants rely heavily on fossil fuels which release greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide - contributing to climate change - so fusion holds immense promise to offer energy solutions without producing long-lasting nuclear waste. Unfortunately, current generation power stations cannot keep pace with rising demand.

Fusion power industry is already flourishing, with both startups and experienced veterans alike trying to commercialize this energy-disrupting technology. General Fusion, a Canadian startup boasting an experienced board and ample funds behind-the-scenes, recently joined this sector.

This company employs high-powered lasers to focus a plasma composed of deuterium and tritium atoms that emit vast amounts of energy in the form of heat, using state-of-the-art facilities to confine and convert this heat energy into electricity. They employ 1 gigawatt fusion power stations using appropriate technology and fuel that would require only a fraction of energy consumed by oil or gas plants today; though commercialization of fusion power may take many years.

3. It’s a science experiment

An experiment which could pave the way towards sustainable, carbon-free energy sources is underway.

Fusion energy - the process of creating new atoms from existing ones - has long been recognized for its tremendous energy yield, ever since Einstein first proposed it in 1908. Fusion uses similar nuclear reactions as those used to form stars, similar to what powers our Sun.

However, for decades now physicists have struggled to demonstrate that fusion energy production was actually possible and usable. Creating new atoms takes so much energy that commercial reactors are unlikely to appear anytime soon if ever. Furthermore, radioactive waste produced can pose problems if ever needing long-term storage solutions are desired.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California's National Ignition Facility (NIF) recently demonstrated it is possible to achieve ignition - or energy gain - using lasers. Scientists fired 192 beams towards a pellet of deuterium and tritium fuel the size of a peppercorn for successful energy gain.

Lasers used by scientists heated a pellet of fuel to over 3 million degrees C - hotter than the surface of the Sun!- and bathed it in X-rays. After being submerged for some time, this spark ignited with enough energy released to heat a canister that held it. Scientists refer to this event as ignition; by most standards of experimentation it represents something significant.

But this breakthrough alone wasn't enough to turn the National Ignition Facility (NIF) into an economically sustainable power source; scientists would need to overcome various scientific, engineering and technical hurdles before reaching this goal.

To bring the temperature of the fuel up to an ignitable level, lasers need to be powered with plenty of electricity; NIF used about 2 megajoules of energy for this task.

Although still far away from commercial power generation, this project represents an important advance and boost to science. Fusion energy may become our only viable form of clean and efficient power in the near future.

4. It’s a way to make a lot of money

Fusion Energy is an exciting alternative energy source that doesn't produce carbon emissions or radioactive waste, yet can generate as much power as fossil fuels with significantly greater efficiency.

To create fusion electricity, we must first produce a super-hot gas known as plasma that contains hydrogen and helium atoms that collide to trigger the fusion process.

However, controlling plasma is difficult and scientists have struggled for decades to do it effectively. Lasers are one of the primary tools used for research on fusion - typically beamed electrons and ions into an envelope of heated hydrogen by means of laser beams.

But those methods aren't perfect, and some researchers are trying to change them by taking an unconventional approach to ultra-high temperature studies, like using cutting-edge supercomputers to examine them and reopening lines of inquiry that had been shelved due to budget cuts or technical challenges years earlier.

These approaches may hold promise, but are expensive and difficult to implement; furthermore, they're far from being capable of creating energy-positive fusion - which requires more than heat alone to initiate reactions - in an energy efficient manner.

Fusion science could take years to reach this point, while researchers invest billions of dollars to make advances. Major investors include Bill Gates' non-profit Breakthrough Institute and Chevron (who led a $1.8 billion Series B for Commonwealth Fusion Systems last year).

Government action has also been taken. President Barack Obama has directed his team to evaluate how fusion power could become more viable, and has allotted part of federal budgets specifically for funding research into this technology.

Fusion power remains uneconomical commercially, however. One major impediment to commercial viability of this renewable technology is its cost, which is more than twice that of solar or wind energy and much higher than nuclear fission energy sources. Therefore, capital markets have yet to invest heavily in it even though its potential is clear.

But that doesn't make fusion power any less worthy of consideration: With enough funding and innovation, scientists believe fusion could one day power billions of homes worldwide or even several cities - not to mention all its other advantages such as zero carbon emissions, no waste production and renewable sources back-up.