The CNN article on fusion, headlined as above, makes clear that the effort to develop fusion as a source for generating power will be a transformative development for mankind, and then whines that China is beating the U.S. to be the first to achieve commercial development. “U.S. companies and industry experts are worried America is losing its decades-long lead in the race to master this near-limitless form of clean energy, as new fusion companies sprout across China, and Beijing outspends DC.... The Chinese government is pouring money into the venture, putting an estimated $1 billion to $1.5 billion annually into fusion, according to Jean Paul Allain, who leads the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences. In comparison, the Biden administration has spent around $800 million a year. ‘To me, what’s more important than the number, it’s actually how fast they’re doing this,’ Allain told CNN.”
CNN reports, “Energy Singularity, the start-up in Shanghai, is just one example of China’s warp speed. It built its own tokamak in the three years since it was established, faster than any comparable reactor has ever been built.... The company is planning to build a second-generation tokamak to prove its methods are commercially viable by 2027, and it expects a third-gen device that can feed power to the grid before 2035, the company said. In contrast, the tokamaks in the U.S. are aging, said Andrew Holland, CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Fusion Industry Association. As a result, the U.S. relies on its allies’ machines in Japan, Europe and the U.K. to further its research.
