MWCC has participated, through the Vice President of MWCC, in the debate forum “Nuclear Fusion: the future of energy”, organized by the El Alcázar de las Ideas thought forum. The President of the “Guillermo Velarde” Nuclear Fusion Institute of the Polytechnic University of Madrid participated in the debate, analyzing the most significant stages in the development of research on this type of energy, and especially the milestone achieved in December 2022 at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California, when a nuclear fusion reaction with net energy gain was obtained for the first time, that is, with an energy generation greater than that used in that process.

In parallel, the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) project analyzes the construction and operation of a facility that attempts to reproduce nuclear fusion on a large scale, with the aim of creating a new source of clean and long-lasting energy.

In the future, the objective would be to operate a commercial power generation plant based on nuclear fusion, although a lot of research is still needed to establish the foundations for its industrialization, and it will possibly take decades until we are able to profitably market energy. electricity from this type of energy.

The aim of this debate was to review where we are in the process of researching nuclear fusion as a source of sustainable energy, share what steps are currently being taken in the world, what are the limiting elements for its industrialization and, as a result of everything Therefore, estimate the deadlines necessary for the commercialization of electrical energy from thermonuclear fusion reactors to become a reality. Also, put this type of energy in the context of an energy mix in which different types of energy will coexist, such as renewable energy (wind and photovoltaic), hydraulic, nuclear fission and even, perhaps, that from fossil fuels.