Probably it can safely be said that we have entered the Fusion Millennium, since this only implies that fusion will become a practical energy source sometime in the next thousand years. A more interesting question is whether we have entered the Fusion Century.

Fusion research has been underway for about 50 years. Twenty-five years ago a comprehensive 5-volume integrated plan ("Fusion Power by Magnetic Confinement Program Plan," ERDA-76/110, July 1976) which aimed, nominally, for a demonstration fusion power plant to operate around the end of the century, was prepared by the U. S. fusion community. Actually, the plan provided a range of possible operating dates for the "Demo," depending on how aggressively the plan was pursued, i.e., how much funding was available, how much technical risk was the country willing take, and the timing of commitments to the construction of new facilities. Eventually it was decided by both the Congress and the Administration to commit to a 20-year, $20 billion plan, with the goal of having a Demo operating in the year 2000 (Magnetic Fusion Energy Engineering Act of 1980, signed into law by President Carter on October 7, 1980). Alas, "the best laid plans of mice and men ...." Subsequent Congresses and Administrations provided neither the funds nor the commitments to new facilities required to carry out this plan.

Today, the U. S. government has no timetable for fusion, while the European Union, Russia and Japan are still focused, nominally, on a 2025 target date for Demo operation. Key to achieving that date is commitment to construction of a fusion engineering test facility and other complementary research and development facilities within the next few years.

The U. S. economy and the standard of living of its people are at all-time highs. Energy is plentiful and affordable. There is no perceived need for fusion. The country and its politicians are complacent. Elsewhere in the world, most notably in the so-called "developing" nations, the situation is not so rosy. Projections of population growth and the energy needs to provide a decent standard of living for the people in these countries are staggering. World population is projected to double and electricity consumption to rise by a factor of five over the next 50 years. Providing this electricity is the equivalent of commissioning one new Gigawatt power plant every two days for the next 50 years! Multi-trillions of dollars of commitments to power plant construction will be required.

How will this electricity be provided? Most likely by the burning of carbon-based fuels; possibly, in part, by nuclear fission reactors. The U.S. and other "developed" countries will try to discourage the "developing" countries from burning carbon-based fuels, for fear of "global warming," and from deploying fission reactors, for fear of nuclear weapons proliferation. But they are not offering these countries any viable technological alternatives. Environmental activists in the U. S. and other developed countries urge the use of so-called "renewables," wind and solar, but these are not likely to provide more than a small fraction of demand. The only "renewable" capable of making a significant contribution to global energy demand is biomass, a process based on the burning of carbon-based fuels that contribute to global warming.

Five years ago, in a budget-cutting frenzy driven by large U. S. federal budget deficits, the U. S. Congress cut the fusion research budget approximately in half and forced the withdrawal of the U. S. from an international partnership aimed at the timely development of fusion as an energy source. Now, though the country has embarrassingly large budget surpluses, there is little interest in reestablishing vigorous energy development programs. But the clock is still ticking on the global energy/environmental crisis and some day the piper must be paid.

Fusion Power Associates remains committed to advocating balanced national energy policies that include research on a range of energy technologies, including fusion. We also advocate an aggressive, broad-based program of research and development on fusion, including plasma sciences, engineering sciences, technology development, systems analysis, and the timely construction of new and improved experimental facilities, to ensure that fusion is a viable future energy option as the world moves into the new millennium.