Texas A&M University professor Satish Bukkapatnam believes nuclear fusion as a reliable energy source is “a decade or more” away from being feasible, according to a press release.
Nuclear fusion is a source of clean energy that involves fusing light nuclei to create energy and helium. This fusion could create massive amounts of energy.
In 2022, a Texas A&M team led by Bukkapatnam and researchers from Georgia Tech worked in collaboration with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California on a project involving firing a laser at a small fuel capsule.
During the experiment, Livermore was able to create more nuclear fusion energy than laser energy used. Bukkapatnam’s team worked to tackle the quality of the surface of the capsule and used sensors to collect data.
Though Texas A&M’s team has been working on ongoing joint research and have seen progress, Bukkapatnam said in a recent press release that the use of nuclear fusion energy is far away.
“I wish I could be very optimistic on this, but I’m very realistic because there are a lot of challenges to surmount in future,” he said in the press release. “What keeps us going are the promises the technology has shown. We need major practical breakthroughs, but the science is mostly proven.”
The research will continue as the project has evolved from a lab level to a Laboratory Directed Research and Development, a program that funds high-risk, high-reward research development at the Department of Energy national labs project.
Last month, Texas A&M announced it will offer to four advanced nuclear companies to build small modular reactors (SMR). The SMRs would use fission energy.
