Fusion Power Generation in a Decade — May Partly Explain the Behavior of Saudi Arabia backing Iran and Russia on Oil Production
There are plenty of skeptics about a commercial fusion power plant being built and operating within ten years.
I am not one of them.
Recent leapfrog advances by Americans, Europeans, and China in various aspects of fusion technology, including the fusion reaction itself and the plasma field to contain it — and that more than three trillion dollars of funding have been pledged if certain milestones are reached — to build and rollout such power plants across the United State and Europe, must be driving leaders in Russia, Saudia Arabia, and Iran to complete distraction.
Further, the natural implications of the global advantage gained by any country that develops commercial fusion power first, and the positive effect on the environment by eliminating the need for gasoline or diesel, or jet fuel to power vehicles and planes, will be game-changing.
Perhaps the oil kingdoms of Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela see the end coming for their black gold money printing presses.
The United States, China, and Europe have all doubled down on their fusion power generation efforts, mainly because recent advances make clear that a path to commercial fusion power generation is just a matter of time.
And if the United States, Europe, and China set their minds and resources to a specific outcome — just the competitive aspects of the race to fusion power will cause an acceleration in each group’s timeline.
Here are some key headlines and links detailing the funding race and technology advancements made recently regarding the commercial generation of fusion power:
Princeton scientists overcome key setback in achieving nuclear fusion
Wave of Fusion Energy Experiments Begin With Groundbreaking Machine
WaPo: Nuclear fusion power inches closer to reality
Venture Investors Put Hundreds of Billions Into Nuclear Fusion And Fission Projects
Nuclear Fusion Is Doing the Impossible—Uniting Politicians
The Door to Fusion Energy Might Have Just Been Unlocked
Breakthrough brings a fusion energy device closer to realization
DeepMind Has Trained an AI to Control Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear fusion is one step closer with new AI breakthrough
BBC: Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy
Physicists make key advance in decades-long chase of clean fusion energy
Hot stuff: Lab hits milestone on long road to fusion power
U.S. Scientists hit a milestone toward nuclear fusion energy
Unlocking SPARC: HTS Magnet for Commercial Fusion Applications
A national lab achieved a ‘Wright Brothers moment’ in nuclear fusion
Physicists Say We’re Officially at the “Threshold of Nuclear Fusion Ignition”
Laser-initiated fusion leads the way to safe, affordable clean energy
The proverbial hourglass has been turned over, and it is only a matter of time before fusion power generation permanently tanks the global need for fossil fuels.
Could this be why Saudi Arabia rebuffed the United States request to pump more oil was a turning point in U.S. – Saudi relations, especially given the coming mid-term elections, all while Saudi Arabia is working with Iran and Russia to inflate the price of oil?
Saudi Arabia has had a long history of agreeing to such requests by the United States over the objections of Iran and Russia. During the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia massively increased its oil production to flood the global market to depress global prices, all to deny Russia hard currency from its main hard currency generating activity, which was and still is fossil fuel exports.
As the path to commercial fusion power becomes more widely known and more clear to observers, it will have the natural effect of strengthening the global consensus to put even more nation-state-level resources into the fusion commercial power generation effort.
This, I predict, will grow the erratic behavior of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela — they will be economically displaced from their current spot — and adjustment to a shrinking pie is never a pretty process to watch.