US aims to create nuclear fusion facility within 10 years, energy chief says
- ‘It’s not out of the realm of possibility’ that the US could achieve Joe Biden’s ‘decadal vision of commercial fusion,’ said Jennifer Granholm
- Fusion works by pressing hydrogen atoms into each other with such force that they combine into helium, releasing vast amounts of energy and heat
US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Monday that nuclear fusion is a pioneering technology and the Biden administration wants to harness it as part of the transition to clean energy.
As part of its energy agenda, the Biden administration wants to create a commercial nuclear fusion facility within 10 years, Granholm said in a wide-ranging interview with Associated Press in Vienna.
Fusion works by pressing hydrogen atoms into each other with such force that they combine into helium, releasing enormous amounts of energy and heat. Unlike other nuclear reactions, it does not create radioactive waste. Proponents of nuclear fusion hope it could one day displace fossil fuels and other traditional energy sources. But producing carbon-free energy that powers homes and businesses from fusion is still decades away.
“It’s not out of the realm of possibility” that the US could achieve Biden’s “decadal vision of commercial fusion,” Granholm said.
A successful nuclear fusion was first achieved by researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California last December in a breakthrough after decades of work.