Germany recognizes the need for renewable energy and has launched an ambitious plan called Fusion 2040 – Research on the Way to a Fusion Power Plant which goal is to finance and develop the technology for building the first national fusion power plant by 2040.
Germany has ambitious goals when it comes to green energy and environmental challenges and since nuclear power plants are no longer allowed in the country, different solutions are being sought. Fusion energy, which mimics the processes that take place in the heart of the Sun, allows the production of huge amounts of energy by fusing atomic nuclei, contrary to the process used by today’s fission-based nuclear power plants.
The initiative is supported by institutional funding and aims to improve the technologies, components and materials necessary for the operation of a fusion power plant by the early 2030s, followed by the design and further development of such a plant, World Nuclear News reports.
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Fusion energy is the opposite of fission, which is prevalent in nuclear technologies. While fission involves splitting heavy atomic nuclei, such as uranium, which produces dangerous radioactive waste, fusion fuses light atomic nuclei together, producing energy with minimal radioactive waste and without the risk of nuclear meltdown, thus making it safer.
Germany committed itself 13 years ago to the gradual abolition of fission-based nuclear energy. Given this decision, switching to fusion energy is a logical step in the search for sustainable energy solutions.
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