Fusion’s Year in Review, a look ahead to 2026-2030: The race to retire the “30 years away” punchline

There is an old adage in the energy business: “fusion energy has been 30 years away, for the last 60 years, and always will be.” This line is so common you can find it on Wikipedia. 

We have heard the joke for most of our careers, but we hear it less and less these days. 

One of us (Ed Moses) led the design, build, commissioning, and early operation of the National Ignition Facility (NIF). A few years ago, NIF became the first machine in human history to demonstrate that controlled fusion can produce more energy than it consumes. It achieved net physics energy gain in December 2022. This has since been repeated many times, with increasing performance, proving the fundamental physics of laser fusion. 

But we are not writing this to look back.

Rather, we are here today to say: laser fusion is on the cusp of commercialization and cost-effective production of energy that’s carbon-free, safe, and deployable wherever it’s needed most. And while laser-driven fusion is the first to cross the existential barrier to commercialization, hopefully it will not be the last. 

Article by Dan Goldin and Ryan Duffy. Read the full piece here.