UT-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair for Computational Nuclear Engineering Brian Wirth recently spoke to Forbes about the importance for the government to build a pilot fusion plant in the US. Wirth says that building a pilot plant would allow engineers and scientists to figure out if a fusion plant would be technologically and practically feasible.
Wirth was part of a committee that issued a new report entitled “Bringing Fusion to the US Grid,” which took in recommendations of the US Department of Energy Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee, of which Wirth is also a member.
The report calls on the US Department of Energy and private companies to invest now to complete the pilot plant between 2035 and 2040.