Energy sovereignty – in the long term through nuclear fusion?

Nuclear fusion offers huge potential for a new, sustainable energy source. Industrialized countries in particular need future-proof solutions for additional energy supplies that can provide baseload power and complement the energy mix of the future in a carbon-neutral way. There have been remarkable scientific breakthroughs in recent years with the world’s first ignition of a burning plasma in laser-driven inertial confinement fusion and significant progress in magnetic confinement fusion.

In order to advance research in a targeted and market-driven manner, close and early collaboration between science and industry is essential. Fraunhofer combines basic research with industrial application. It develops key technologies for fusion power plants that could also be relevant to other industries, opening up new markets. These include high-power short-pulse lasers, optical technologies, additive manufacturing and materials science. This lowers production costs and may also reduce the costs of nuclear fusion.

What can Fraunhofer contribute to nuclear fusion research?

Extensive pre-competitive research is still required in the field of nuclear fusion, which should already focus on feasibility and economic viability. Developments in supplier technologies in particular, which are necessary for this research field, already offer a great deal of promise for industrial partners. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, with its focus on applied research and its strong ties with industry, is a perfect interface here.  

German industry and research occupy a leading position in the development of key technologies. Together with business partners, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft aims to fulfill the mandate of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to the German scientific system to transfer key technologies from basic to applied research, to address new markets at an early stage and to strengthen the competitiveness of German industry. The aim of the current Fusion 2040 funding program is to establish an innovation ecosystem for nuclear fusion and to promote applied research based on public-private partnerships.

Magnetic fusion and inertial fusion - different approaches to energy generation

In nuclear fusion, light atomic nuclei are fused together, releasing binding energy that is subsequently converted into usable forms of energy.

The implementation of nuclear fusion on Earth is technically highly demanding. In order to fuse the initially strongly repulsive atomic nuclei, extremely high pressures and temperatures (of about 200 million ° C) must be generated and maintained over certain periods of time. The resulting plasmas can no longer be confined in material vessels.

Therefore, magnetic fields are used for confinement in the so-called magnetic confinement fusion (MCF "Magnetic confinement Fusion Energy"). Strong energy losses due to the emission of light quanta in the X-ray range and the loss of hot particles must be compensated for by constant reheating. In international large-scale projects, research reactors based on different magnetic field geometries are operated, in which the necessary plasma pressure could be maintained for seconds to minutes so far. A positive energy balance could be achieved for the first time in 2035 with the currently largest research instrument ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), which has been operated since 2007 in the Cadarache research center in southern France by the member states of EURATOM, China, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the USA.

In contrast, an important breakthrough has recently been achieved in inertial fusion (IFE "Inertial Fusion Energy"). Using a large number of high-dimension short-pulse lasers, the fusion mixture enclosed in small capsules is briefly compressed to the density and temperature necessary for fusion. At Lawrence Livermore National Lab LLNL (California, USA), this technique was used to ignite a burning fusion plasma for the first time in the world in 2021. In this case, the energy recovery was 70 percent of the energy introduced for compression and ignition. In December 2022, a net energy gain of more than 150 percent was demonstrated for the first time at LLNL. Thus, more energy was recovered than was put into the experiment. A decisive milestone in fusion research.

Despite the successful physical experiment, there is currently no experimental facility in the world for inertial fusion in civil energy research. To achieve this goal, significant engineering achievements will be necessary in the coming decade. The first private-sector companies, supported by large investment funds or international corporations, are therefore becoming involved in this field. In particular, laser-driven nuclear fusion is meeting with great interest.

Technologies made in Germany provide relevant contributions to fusion research

Germany already has extensive know-how in key technologies that are relevant to the development of fusion research. In the field of magnetic confinement, for example, researchers of the Max Planck Society have a worldwide reputation. In laser technology, which is necessary for the ignition of plasmas in inertial fusion, Germany occupies a leading international position. For example, experts at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft are working on the development of high-performance ultrashort-pulse lasers. Material sciences are also among the competencies of the German research landscape in this field.