First nuclear fusion power plants require a $7B supply chain

Firms seeking to harness fusion energy to generate electricity are expected to spend about $7 billion before their first plant comes online.

When the nuclei of two light atoms like hydrogen are heated to extreme temperatures and fuse to form one heavier nucleus while simultaneously releasing vast amounts of energy, the process is called atomic fusion.

According to a Fusion Industry Association (FIA) survey, firms seeking to master the atomic fusion process using magnets and lasers spent over $500 million on their supply chains in 2022.

That spending is set to balloon to $7 billion by the time fusion firms develop their first power plant and potentially increase to trillions of dollars in a blooming fusion industry, which is expected to be around 2035 and 2050, the survey of nearly two dozen developers revealed.

The majority of the supply chain expense is predicted to go to the high grade concrete, steel, and superconducting wires needed to build the fusion plants, where nuclear fuels will be superheated to 100 million Celsius in specialized chambers. Money will also go to lasers, energy supplies, and super magnets.

The Chief of FIA, Andrew Holland, said there was little concern about geopolitical supply risk in the supply chain as no key parts or materials faced global supply problems or were produced in unstable countries.

Holland said that even though there is a shortage of tritium, a fuel that many companies intend to use to power fusion plants, this is unimportant because the companies intend to breed tritium in the fusion plants using lithium.