German government: world's first fusion power plant to be built in Germany

"Germany on the way to becoming a fusion power plant" is the name of an action plan adopted by the German government on Wednesday. It aims to make Germany a leading global centre for fusion energy. With a total budget of over 2 billion Euro in this legislative period alone, research, infrastructure and an industrial ecosystem centred around fusion for power generation are to be promoted. To date, the annual public funding for fusion research from the responsible ministry has totalled around 150 million euros.

With this initiative, "we are paving the way for the world's first fusion power plant in Germany", said Research and Technology Minister Dorothee Bär (CSU) confidently. "The last few years have clearly shown us all that our energy supply is facing challenges." It is the basis for competitiveness, value creation and sovereignty. The key technology of fusion could help to make the energy of tomorrow "safe, environmentally friendly, climate-friendly and affordable for everyone".

According to the action plan, the government sees nuclear fusion as an important, long-term building block for clean, safe and base-load-capable electricity production. The envisaged first demonstration fusion power plant is to be built by an industrially led consortium of German companies to strengthen Germany's technical sovereignty and establish the country as an energy producer and export nation in the fusion sector.

No turning away from ITER

The plan comprises eight key measures. For example, the executive wants to promote the development of a fusion ecosystem of science and industry to accelerate the transfer of knowledge to industry and establish the value chains for corresponding power plants in Germany. Plans include the establishment of centres of competence and excellence (hubs) by the end of the first quarter of 2026, which will serve as nuclei for innovation. A new research infrastructure for laser fusion is estimated to receive up to 755 million euros in funding.

Other points include the education and training of specialists, the involvement of the public, explicit regulation of the technology in the Radiation Protection Act by 2026, the protection of intellectual property rights and harmonised standardisation. Germany is also committed to the international nuclear fusion project ITER, which the EU is funding with 5.61 billion euros for the years 2021 to 2027, and is examining participation in the IFMIF-DONES research project. This facility is currently under construction in Escúzar near Granada, Spain.

The most important scientific breakthrough in recent times was the so-called ignition, which was achieved in December 2022 at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in the USA. Recently, the researchers there achieved further records. Current expectations for success in this field vary widely. Forecasts for private-sector start-ups are much rosier than those for traditional large-scale public projects.

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