A few years in the making, a breakthrough effort towards fusion energy has scientists using powerful magnets to build the world’s first energy-producing fusion experiment. In 2018, a report published by the American Physical Society, revealed that collaborating scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Plasma Science & Fusion Center and Commonwealth Fusion Systems were working to speed up the development of fusion energy that can help fight the harmful effects of climate change by using high-powered temperature superconducting magnets.  Today, the development of fusion energy and its capabilities within energy production has grown urgent. In March of 2020, a community consensus report — the first of its kind in almost 20 years — created by a diverse group of researchers from academic, government labs, and industry professionals has been released. Within this report are recommendations into the development of a pilot fusion power plant, in what they say is an important step toward an American fusion energy industry.  Why The Need For Fusion Power? Fusion has been noted as being a practical energy source — potentially being an inexhaustible and zero-carbon source of energy. It’s created when nuclei of small atoms combine together to create energy. The nuclei are positively charged with repulsion so strong that it can only be broken at temperatures above 100 million degrees. Although these conditions can be achieved in experimental settings, there hasn’t been a fool-proof way for scientists to create it consistently in order to reach a net energy gain. But if scientists were to increase the strength of the magnets – using these high-temperature superconductors – it could become possible. From an excerpt of the 2018 report... “The hot ionized gases, called plasmas, are isolated and insulated from ordinary matter. The quality of this insulation gets more effective as the field gets stronger, meaning that one needs less space to keep the plasma hot. Doubling the magnetic field in a fusion device allows one to reduce its volume — a good indicator of how much the device costs — by a factor of eight, while achieving the same performance. Thus, stronger magnetic fields make fusion smaller, faster and cheaper.”  According to the 2020 report, “if successfully harnessed, fusion could change the energy grid and offer safe, abundant, carbon-free electricity production.”  Superconductor Breakthroughs and What’s to Come Thanks to new advancements in superconductor energy, scientists have been able to use new superconducting compounds that can operate at much higher temperatures than conventional superconductors. These new Fusion Energy high-powered superconductors come in for the form of tape and ribbons and are able to function even when placed within very strong magnetic fields.  These tape and ribbon superconductors are still too small to create any kind of breakthrough, but planning is underway to create magnets that are large enough to fit their first Fusion Energy Device - called SPARC. The goal is to have it operational by 2025. This is only one part of the fusion plans though. The 2020 community consensus report also goes into the need to focus on fusion-related materials and technologies in addition to magnetic-confinement fusion.  Bob Mumgaard, chief executive of MIT spinout Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) describes this newly combined effort as “the whole community, coming together in a very transparent grassroots effort to answer questions about what we’re doing, what needs to be done, and what we’re willing to not do. It wasn’t done in a back room but by scientists themselves, and they came out with a plan and priorities — it’s kind of cool.”  Stay Up-to-Date with Apex Magnets! As reported, there are still several opportunities and research needs, especially within plasma research and an emphasis in fusion materials and technology. For updates on this “kind of cool” topic and others within magnetic discoveries, be sure to sign up for our newsletter here.