SINGAPORE – Tapping the process of nuclear fusion for energy generation may still be some years away, but there are still economic opportunities in this area that Singapore is well placed to capture, Minister for Energy, Trade and Industry (Energy and Industry) Tan See Leng said on Oct 1.
Speaking at the opening of a nuclear fusion conference FusionX:APAC held at the Biopolis, he highlighted how the fusion ecosystem is forecast to reach a value of US$419.84 billion (S$535 billion) by the end of this decade.
The three-day conference, organised by SGInnovate, a government-backed venture builder, brings together global fusion firms, researchers and investors to take stock of the opportunities and challenges of the emerging field.
“Even for countries like Singapore without our own fusion reactor, we can leverage our talent, R&D and industrial capabilities to support the broader fusion economy,” Tan said.
Currently, commercial nuclear energy plants tap the process of fission – where the nucleus of a uranium atom splits – to generate electricity. Nuclear fusion, on the other hand, refers to reactions that produce energy when hydrogen particles are forced – or fused – together.
Tan said he is encouraged by a fusion reactor that has produced more energy under experimental conditions. Most experiments usually require more energy to deliver a reaction.
In 2022, the National Ignition Facility in California used 2.05 megajoules of energy to deliver a fusion reaction that produced 3.15 megajoules of energy.
“Such technical progress in fusion has been met with growing commercial interest, with sizeable investment flows going into fusion energy companies,” he said.
Fusion is the same process that happens on the Sun, and is more challenging to replicate on Earth because the reaction must be done in temperatures of 100 million deg C or more, which is several times hotter than the Sun.
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