PressThe New York Times: Nuclear Fusion Edges Toward the Mainstream
Article by journalist Stanley Reed on Tokamak Energy published in The New York Times on 18/10/21.
The piece looks at the global investment opportunities in fusion energy and includes an interview with Tokamak Energy’s Executive Vice Chairman David Kingham.
ABINGDON, England — Harnessing fusion energy into something commercially viable — and maybe, ultimately, a clean source of power that replaces fossil fuels for centuries to come — has long been considered by some as the ultimate moonshot.
But investor interest in fusion energy continues to slowly rise and the number of start-ups in the field is multiplying, with an estimated 1,100 people in several countries making their living at these firms. An industry is taking shape, with a growing network of companies that supply highly specialized equipment, like the components of the powerful magnets that fusion devices require.
The British government even recently saw the need to issue regulations for fusion energy — a kind of milestone for a burgeoning industry.
“Nobody has a better plan to deal with the climate crisis,” said David Kingham, one of the three co-founders of a company called Tokamak Energy that has raised about $200 million, mostly from private sources.
At Tokamak Energy, a goal is to eventually heat isotopes of hydrogen hot enough so that their atoms combine in a reaction that releases enormous amounts of energy. This is the essence of fusion, often described as the energy behind the sun and stars…
