Sandia to Host Discussion of Progress in Fusion Energy

What is fusion energy? Why are we hearing more about it recently? Could fusion energy change the world?

Sandia invites the public to learn more about these and other questions related to fusion energy startups and technological innovations on March 29, 2022, 10-11:00 a.m. MDT on Microsoft Teams. This virtual event, co-sponsored by Sandia’s New Research Ideas Forum and Climate Speaker Series, will feature Sam Wurzel and Scott Hsu, Ph.D., both affiliated with the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), and will be facilitated by Kyle Peterson, manager for pulsed power strategic planning and development at Sandia.

“The running joke about fusion energy is that it is always thirty years away,” Peterson said. “However, recent advances in fusion science and technology, along with unprecedented private investment, may make thermonuclear fusion closer than you might think.”

Wurzel currently serves as Technology-to-Market Advisor for fusion energy programs at ARPA-E. Hsu is a senior plasma and fusion research scientist on detail to ARPA-E from Los Alamos National Laboratory. At ARPA-E, he has pitched and launched two R&D programs in fusion, BETHE (2020) and GAMOW (2021), and manages 40+ active fusion projects with a focus on enabling timely commercial fusion energy.

Anyone interested in learning more about fusion concepts can watch this recorded talk by Hsu starting at the 58-minute mark. The conversation will also draw on this paper written by Wurzel and Hsu that details the history of fusion and progress towards energy gain.

Add the event to your Outlook calendar.

PHOTO: The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is a collaborative nuclear fusion research and engineering project aiming to build the world’s largest magnetic fusion device, also known as a tokamak, in southern France. CREDIT: ITER Organization

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