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Nuclear Fusion: The Dawn of an Energy and Computing Revolution

Exploring how mastering nuclear fusion could redefine our energy system and trigger a new era of progress in critical fields like advanced computing.

nuclear-fusion energy ai hpc technology science
By Leopold BURON

Nuclear Fusion: The Dawn of an Energy and Computing Revolution

Introduction

Humanity is searching for a clean, safe, and virtually inexhaustible energy source to meet climate challenges and a growing demand for energy. This quest could find its answer in nuclear fusion, the process that powers the stars. Long considered a scientific utopia, fusion is now at the heart of a global technological race, driven by spectacular advances and massive investments. This article explores how mastering fusion could not only redefine our energy system but also trigger a new era of progress in fields as critical as advanced computing.

The Principle: Clean and Safe Energy

Unlike nuclear fission, which involves splitting heavy, unstable atomic nuclei like uranium, fusion combines two light nuclei to form a heavier one. The most studied reaction for future reactors is between two isotopes of hydrogen: deuterium (D) and tritium (T). This reaction produces a helium nucleus, a neutron, and an immense amount of energy—about four times greater than that of fission for the same mass.

The fundamental advantages of fusion lie in its very physics:

  • Abundant Fuel: Deuterium is abundant in seawater, and tritium can be produced from lithium, a metal plentiful in the Earth’s crust. This promises energy independence from geographically concentrated fossil fuels.

  • Intrinsic Safety: The fusion reaction requires extreme temperature and confinement conditions (over 100 million degrees Celsius). Any system failure leads to an almost instantaneous cooling of the plasma and the cessation of the reaction. A Chernobyl-type accident or a core meltdown is therefore physically impossible.

  • Manageable Waste: The main product of the reaction is helium, an inert and harmless gas. The only radioactive waste comes from the activation of the reactor’s structural materials by neutrons. By choosing low-activation materials, this waste will have a radioactive lifetime of about 100 years, compared to thousands of years for some fission waste, and can be recycled.

  • Non-Proliferation: Fusion does not use or produce fissile materials like plutonium, which are necessary for the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

The Race for Star Power

Fusion research recently reached a historic milestone. In December 2022, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in the United States announced it had achieved a net energy gain in a controlled fusion experiment for the first time. By delivering 2.05 megajoules (MJ) of laser energy to a target, scientists produced 3.15 MJ of fusion energy—a gain of over 50%. This scientific proof of concept has since been replicated and even improved upon, with experiments achieving even higher yields.

Meanwhile, the international ITER project, under construction in the south of France, aims to demonstrate the technological feasibility of large-scale fusion. ITER is designed to produce 500 MW of thermal energy from 50 MW of injected power—a gain of 10—over long periods. Although its schedule has been adjusted, with deuterium-tritium operations planned for 2035, ITER remains an indispensable step in validating the technologies for future power plants.

This dynamic is complemented by the emergence of an ecosystem of private startups that have raised billions of dollars. Companies like Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) and Helion are developing innovative approaches with aggressive timelines, aiming for commercial electricity production by the late 2020s or early 2030s. Notably, Helion has signed the first fusion power purchase agreement with Microsoft, starting in 2028.

Fusion and the Computing Revolution: Energy as the Lever for Tomorrow’s Calculations

One of the most profound and perhaps least expected impacts of nuclear fusion could be in the field of computing. High-Performance Computing (HPC) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have become essential drivers of scientific and technological innovation, but their development is hitting a wall: energy.

The Energy Bottleneck

Supercomputers and data centers that train AI models are extremely energy-intensive. The demand for computing power is increasing exponentially, far outpacing gains in hardware energy efficiency. According to some estimates, if a “zettascale” class supercomputer (1,000 times more powerful than current machines) were built with today’s technology, it would consume about 21 gigawatts, equivalent to the output of 21 nuclear power plants. The cost and availability of energy have thus become the main limiting factor for the growth of AI and HPC.

Fusion as a Solution

Nuclear fusion offers a direct solution to this problem. By providing a massive, reliable, decarbonized, and potentially cheap source of energy, it could remove this energy bottleneck. Next-generation data centers and supercomputers could be powered without constraint, paving the way for AI models of a complexity and power currently unimaginable.

A Symbiotic Relationship

Even more fascinating, the relationship between fusion and AI is a two-way street. AI is already an indispensable tool for accelerating fusion research. Machine learning algorithms are used to:

  • Simulate and predict the complex behavior of plasmas, allowing for the optimization of reactor designs before their costly construction.
  • Control fusion reactions in real-time, anticipating and correcting plasma instabilities in milliseconds to maintain the reaction.
  • Discover new materials capable of withstanding the extreme conditions of a reactor, accelerating a process that would normally take decades.

Thus, AI is helping to realize the promise of fusion, and fusion, in turn, will provide the energy for AI to reach its full potential. This is a positive feedback loop that could catalyze unprecedented technological advances.

Conclusion

Nuclear fusion is no longer a mere scientific curiosity. It is a disruptive technology progressing rapidly, driven by global collaboration and dynamic private innovation. While technical and economic challenges remain significant, the potential benefits are immense. Beyond the promise of clean and safe energy for all, fusion could become the engine of a new industrial and digital revolution, powering the supercomputers and artificial intelligences of tomorrow. By mastering the energy of the stars, we could not only transform our world but also exponentially increase our ability to understand and innovate it.