crs_reports: R48866

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R48866 Toward Commercial Fusion Energy: Considerations for Congress 2026-02-27T05:00:00Z 2026-03-04T13:31:23Z Active Reports Todd Kuiken   While there has been considerable U.S. public and private investment in developing fusion energy, scientific and technological hurdles remain for commercial viability. Congress may have an interest in U.S. strategic positioning in regard to fusion energy technology as countries around the world, including China, are competing to be the first to achieve commercialized fusion energy. Nuclear fusion is a process in which the nuclei of two lightweight atoms join, or fuse, to form a heavier nucleus, releasing energy. Achieving fusion requires three conditions: (1) heating a small quantity of fuel above its ignition point, (2) maintaining the reaction long enough for the release of fusion energy to exceed the energy input, and (3) converting the energy released to a useful form of energy (e.g., electricity). As of the date of this report, just one project claims to have successfully achieved the first condition and partially achieved the second. Once all three are achieved, electricity generated by a fusion reaction would then need to be integrated into the electric grid, which may introduce additional engineering and technical challenges. Different designs and technologies are being explored to achieve commercial fusion energy. Federally funded fusion energy research and development (R&D) is primarily supported by the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science through its Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program. In FY2025, the FES program budget was $790 million. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), from FY2020 to FY2023, about 70% of FES’s budget supported three projects, including two DOE user facilities and an international fusion project called ITER, formerly the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, which accounted for about 30% of the total FES budget. DOE also supports fusion energy research directed toward weapons activities and improved stewardship of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. This latter work includes inertial confinement, an approach used in the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the DOE Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to initiate fusion reactions. In 2022, NIF became the first facility to achieve “ignition,” when the energy released by the fusion reaction is greater than the energy directly expended to create the reaction, an event that has increased interest in inertial confinement designs for future power plants. In 2024, DOE released its Fusion Energy Strategy, which focuses on three pillars: (1) resolving the scientific and technological gaps to a fusion pilot plant, (2) paving the way for commercial fusion deployment, and (3) cultivating and expanding partnerships. As part of the strategy, DOE developed a science and technology roadmap composed of targeted actions and metric-driven milestones to guide DOE investments in order to support a competitive U.S. fusion energy industry. The number of private fusion companies has increased significantly in the past few years. According to a recent survey of private fusion companies, they raised $2.2 billion in private funding in 2025, with total private investment reaching nearly $9 billion between 2021 and 2025. The survey also shows that a majority of these companies believe there will be a commercially viable fusion plant by 2035, with some responding that it will be before 2030. However, the timing of commercial fusion energy may be difficult to predict. Congress may have a continued interest in shaping the broader U.S. fusion R&D strategy to achieve commercially viable fusion energy. Congress may consider whether current federal funding levels, R&D priorities, supply chains, workforce pipelines, levels of international collaboration, and public engagement programs are appropriate to achieve the first commercial fusion power plant and establish a fusion energy industry in the United States. Congress may also choose to investigate the strategic positioning of the United States as it relates to China and other countries, such as Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom, all of which have strategies to develop fusion energy. https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R48866/R48866.2.pdf https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/HTML/R48866.html

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