Japan adopts national strategy on nuclear fusion

Japan has adopted its first-ever national strategy on nuclear fusion reflecting the need to create a domestic fusion industry.

The strategy calls for the wider participation of the private sector in fusion energy research & development. “We will list as our vision the industrialisation of fusion energy, using technological advantage, in order to seize market opportunities,” said a report, compiled by the Cabinet Office.

Japan has been a major contributor to International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), under construction in France, which aims for first plasma in 2035. However, fusion research has been changing rapidly in recent years, with investors funding private-sector projects that have ambitions to get commercial reactors operating much sooner than ITER.

In view of these developments, the report says Japan should take a “multifaceted approach” that includes creating and supporting homegrown fusion energy industries, not just participating in ITER. ...continue reading