“I wanted to explain as simply as possible the science and technology of nuclear fusion and I wanted to locate its place in the energy mix today.” Alain Bécoulet is discussing why an engineer with no previous experience as an author should want to take on the task of writing a primer on the subject of nuclear fusion.
He thinks that the public doesn’t understand how the international scientific research community is engaging with a technology that will one day democratise energy with cheap, sustainable, clean and green power for everyone. ‘Star Power’ is Bécoulet’s highly readable attempt to provide the history and context of nuclear fusion, “in a way that will help us to understand where we are going with it and what’s left to be done.”
The problem with nuclear fusion, he says, is not so much the scientific or technological difficulties associated with making it happen. It’s more that the finishing line is simply so far away in the distant future that...