EUROfusion launched in Brussels to help turn fusion energy into a reality

EUROfusion represents a major change in the way fusion research is funded in Europe. From 2014 to 2018, research will be funded through the Euratom Horizon 2020 fusion energy research programme, in line with Europe’s fusion energy roadmap, which aims to deliver electricity generated by fusion to the grid by 2050.

Nuclear fusion uses the same energy that powers the sun – heating hydrogen atoms to millions of degrees Celsius so that they fuse together into helium, generating energy in the process.

‘We are at the beginning of an exciting new journey with the launch of EUROfusion,’ said Vice-President responsible for energy, Günther H. Oettinger during the launch event in Brussels on 9 October.

‘Fusion has the potential to become a reliable, safe, non-CO2 emitting and sustainable energy source. Today’s launching of our European Joint Programme on fusion shows how Europe benefits if we unite our research strength.’

ITER

At the moment, countries representing over half the world’s population are working to build the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) – in the south of France.

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‘We are at the beginning of an exciting new journey.’

If they are successful Europe plans to go on and build a demonstration reactor, known for the moment as DEMO, which is expected to start contributing energy to the power grid around 2050.

‘This is a very pivotal time for us to be in fusion,’ Professor Steve Cowley, Chief Executive of the UK-based Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, told the meeting in Brussels. ‘I believe that this (ITER) is the most important experiment of the twenty-first century.’

Fusion technology could be able to meet a large proportion of the world’s energy demand in a cost-effective way. Unlike fission, which powers the nuclear reactors used today, fusion does not produce long-lived radioactive waste and is not subject to the same safety concerns.