Achieving nuclear fusion would be building on the shoulders of giants

FOR the first time on Earth, a controlled fusion reaction has generated more power than was used to kickstart it. Reaching the milestone provides real hope that fusion reactors can deliver on the decades-long promise of abundant, clean energy that, according to the Atomic Energy Commission in 1954, will be “too cheap to meter”.

With 100 years of science behind the result and decades of engineering still ahead, fusion will be – if we get there – perhaps the best example of coordinated, long-term effort by humans and the greatest pay-off ever received. The engineers who construct the first commercial …