BREAKTHROUGHS in nuclear fusion have renewed excitement over the sustainable energy solution, even though it is still “too early” for mainstream venture capitalists to step in, said David Gann, chairman of the UK Atomic Energy Authority.

Speaking at a forum organised by SGInnovate and moderated by The Business Times correspondent Sharanya Pillai on Wednesday (May 31), Gann was optimistic about the trajectory of fusion research, which began in the 1950s but only accelerated in recent years.

Current nuclear power plants generate energy via nuclear fission, or the splitting of atoms. Nuclear fusion seeks to replicate how stars produce energy: by fusing the nuclei of hydrogen atoms at temperatures as high as 150 million deg C – or 10 times hotter than the centre of the sun.

Hailed as a clean energy gamechanger, fusion generates nearly four million times more energy than using coal, oil or gas, and four times more than fission reactions. Unlike nuclear fission, fusion technology does not produce long-lived radioactive waste and does not pose the risk of meltdowns.

“In (the last) five years, the world has made more progress in developing reliable ideas for fusion than in the 25 or 35 years beforehand,” said Gann, who is also Oxford University’s pro-vice-chancellor for development and external affairs.

In the latest breakthrough, announced in December 2022, the first fusion reaction in a laboratory setting produced more energy than it took to start the reaction.

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The milestone comes as funding for fusion energy is on the rise, in tandem with an increasing number of startups in the field. Globally, there are now at least 30 fusion companies working towards making the limitless, zero-carbon energy source a reality.

“The private sector has really got going… In the last two years, we’ve seen US$5 billion invested. US$5 billion is not a lot of money, but it’s a lot of money if we haven’t been doing it before,” said Gann.

He noted that much of the funding comes from wealthy individuals, such as Peter Thiel. The billionaire entrepreneur is an investor in Helion Energy, the nuclear fusion company that recently signed a power-purchase deal with Microsoft to provide the tech company with electricity from its fusion power plant in five years.

Oil and gas companies, as well as sovereign wealth funds, are also leading investors in fusion energy.

Mainstream venture capitalists, however, have been more conservative because of the risks and uncertainties involved. Despite the recent breakthroughs, fusion technology needs further research and development, and could still be decades away from commercialisation.

While there is a lack of venture capital going into core fusion, Gann observed that venture capitalists are still funding adjacent areas such as robotics innovations that arise from fusion research.

“In dealing with these deep-tech issues, we’re getting results that have adjacent applications. Those applications can already go into markets and create value, and spin out companies and so on,” he said.

Luffy AI, an artificial intelligence robotics company that was spun out of sensor data analytic processes developed in fusion research, was cited as an example.

Gann added: “So while our goal is to make a fusion machine that produces electricity, on the journey, we’re also creating a lot of bandwidth and a lot of expertise.”

Asked about the role of Singapore in fusion energy development, Gann put the question back to the audience.

“You have a big question about energy here. You’ve got choices at the moment, but at some point, to be self-sufficient in energy, you’re going to need a highly dense energy source,” he said.

This echoes what Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport Chee Hong Tat said at the 37th Singapore Economic Roundtable – Singapore might need to adopt nuclear energy to achieve its net-zero target by 2050. An earlier report, commissioned by the Energy Market Authority, suggested that nuclear energy could be a long-term option for the country’s power needs, along with other low-carbon alternatives.

Singapore would be a good destination for a fusion prototype, Gann said, and could collaborate with big fusion research projects.

It would also be a “tremendous opportunity” for the city-state to develop industrial capabilities and expertise, he added.