The cost and time to build a plant are a bigger hurdle than the price of fuel
A breakthrough in fusion power unveiled by the US on Tuesday is a scientific feat — and commercial irrelevance.
It is a remarkable feat that the researchers have produced more energy from the fusion of atoms than they used to start the process. But to be able to put it into practice, the process must be scaled enormously. That will likely take years, if not decades. And even then, there’s a problem that undermines some of the exuberant exuberance of the news.
Unless further progress is made, fusion would likely take place in huge facilities like today’s fission plants. Cost and construction time are a bigger hurdle than the price of fuel. The cost of energy from a new plant is five times more expensive than that of a solar equivalent, they calculate in Lazard. Meanwhile, if the price of uranium fell by half, the cost of generating a well-managed reactor would only drop 10%, according to the World Nuclear Association.
