BUILDING A PATH TOWARD GLOBAL DEPLOYMENT OF FUSION: NONPROLIFERATION AND EXPORT CONTROL CONSIDERATIONS
ISSUE BRIEF
ISSUE BRIEF
Building a path toward global deployment of fusion: Nonproliferation and export considerations APRIL 2025
SACHIN S. DESAI, MICHAEL Y. HUA, AMY C. ROMA, JESSICA A. BUFFORD, JACQUELINE E. SIEBENS, and J. ANDREW PROFFITT*
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
F
usion—the process that powers the sun—is arriving and a global race is under way. Fusion has long been considered the “holy grail” of energy as it promises low-cost, always-on clean power with low environmental impacts and an essentially everlasting supply of fuel. For many concepts, a one-liter water bottle filled with liquid fusion fuel can power a home for 800–900 years.
*This article represents the views of the authors in their individual capacities and not those of any organization, including any company or trade organization. The authors also sincerely thank the many people who have provided substantial comments on the article over its development, particularly the Atlantic Council staff. The Atlantic Council Global Energy Center develops and promotes pragmatic and nonpartisan policy solutions designed to advance global energy security, enhance economic opportunity, and accelerate pathways to net-zero emissions.
ATLANTIC COUNCIL
While it has appeared just out of reach for decades due to physics and engineering challenges, those challenges are being overcome, and it now appears fusion is on the path to commercialization—which could lead to rapid global deployment. Significant technology milestones have been reached, and more than $8 billion globally has poured into dozens of privately funded fusion ventures.1 Many of these plan to demonstrate their approaches by mid-decade, with power on the grid to follow.2 Indeed, one company has even announced a firm customer for a fusion power plant, a scenario that could put fusion power on the grid before the end of the decade.3
1
Alejandro de la Garza, “The U.S. Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough Is a Huge Milestone—but Unlimited Clean Energy Is Still Decades Off,” Time, December 13, 2022, https://time.com/6240746/nuclear-fusionbreakthrough-milestone-clean-energy/.
2
Sam Wurzel, “The Global Fusion Race Is On,” Fusion Energy Base, October 28, 2024, https://www. fusionenergybase.com/article/the-global-fusion-race-is-on; “The Global Fusion Industry in 2023,” Fusion Industry Association, July 12, 2023, https://www.fusionindustryassociation.org/wp-content/ uploads/2023/07/FIA–2023-FINAL.pdf.
3
“Helion Announces World’s First Fusion Energy Purchase Agreement with Microsoft,” Helion Energy, May 10, 2023, https://www.helionenergy.com/articles/helion-announces-worlds-first-fusion-ppa-withmicrosoft/.
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