Germany Sees Nuke Fusion As Solution To Energy Crisis

The German government announced draft plans to boost domestic research into the development of nuclear fusion, a technology some hope will provide abundant clean energy in the future, but left open how those efforts will be funded, Frank Jordans reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: Science Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger said that under the proposal, Germany will support all promising fusion technologies now being developed.

Science Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger said that under the proposal, Germany will support all promising fusion technologies now being developed, including laser-based methods that achieved recent breakthroughs in the US but aren’t widely researched in Europe.

Another method, using powerful magnets, has already received significant support from Germany at both its own Wendelstein 7-X research reactor in the northern town of Greifswald, and at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, in southern France.

“We want to address both magnet and laser fusion,” Stark-Watzinger told reporters in Berlin, adding that the plan is to “substantially” increase the 149 million euros ($163 million) that Germany provides annually for such research.

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