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Germany Bets Billions on Nuclear Fusion for Energy Future – DW – 10/29/2025
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Germany bets billions on nuclear fusion for energy future – DW – 10/29/2025 [dw.com]:
https://p.dw.com/p/52gbVAdvertisement
Germany [dw.com] consumes vast amounts of energy to sustain its manufacturing might and energy-intensive sectors like the automotive [dw.com] and chemical industry.
The country, Europe's largest economy [dw.com], still relies heavily on fossil fuels for its energy needs, even though the share of renewable sources like wind and solar [dw.com] has risen steadily over the past two decades.
The German government has been implementing an ambitious energy transition plan [dw.com] to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. It completely phased out nuclear power in 2023, and plans to wean itself off coal by 2038.
To balance the energy and environmental commitments [dw.com], Berlin is also betting on new technologies such as green hydrogen and nuclear fusion.
A smart bet?
Chancellor Friedrich Merz's [dw.com] Cabinet this month unveiled an action plan [bmftr.bund.de] to accelerate the development of nuclear fusion technology. It wants Germany to build the world's first fusion reactor, allocating €1.7 billion ($1.98 billion) in funding for the project.
Berlin hopes the technology will provide abundant clean, safe and reliable energy in the future.
Can nuclear fusion solve the energy crisis?
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video [videojs.com]
Sarah Klein, commissioner for fusion research at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology in Aachen, Germany, says investing in fusion technology is a "smart long‑term strategic bet."
"[It] keeps Germany at the forefront of a global technology race and — alongside renewables — is crucial for ensuring energy sovereignty after the phaseout of fossil fuels," she told DW.
Sibylle Günter, scientific director of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, agreed, noting that German energy demand is "rising steadily."
"Nuclear fusion is a technology that can help us secure our energy supply without CO2 emissions in the long term and remain competitive as an industrial nation," Günter told DW.
'Catalyst for innovation'
Scientists have for decades [dw.com] sought to harness nuclear fusion to generate energy.
It involves bashing together two light atomic nuclei at such high temperatures and pressure that they fuse, and release energy. It's the same basic process that sees hydrogen in the sun converted into helium, generating sunlight and making life on Earth possible.
Fusion is a reverse of what happens in today's nuclear power plants — nuclear fission [dw.com] — where large atoms are split in a chain reaction to release energy.
Unlike nuclear fission, nuclear fusion leaves behind no radioactive waste, thus holding the promise of delivering abundant, climate-friendly energy without pollution and radioactive waste.
Germany is not alone in betting big on nuclear fusion.
Countries like the US, China, Japan and the UK have been pumping billions into accelerating the development of the technology. In addition, dozens of private startups have joined the fray.
"The most innovative economies in the world are already making substantial investments in fusion. Therefore, investing in fusion is a vital future strategy for Germany's high-tech sector," Klein said.
The Fraunhofer scientist underlines that the investment is crucial for the country to remain competitive on the global stage and secure technological sovereignty.
"Beyond the science, fusion acts as a catalyst for innovation," she said, pointing to other critical technologies such as superconducting magnets, high‑power systems, advanced materials, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) [dw.com].
"It is vital to involve industry stakeholders early to initiate and leverage spillover effects into other markets," she added.
Waste of money?
Critics, however, view the spending of vast sums on the pursuit of nuclear fusion as misguided and a waste of resources. They argue that the money could be better spent on scaling up other renewable projects.
But Sibylle Günter is convinced there mustn't be a "conflict between renewables and fusion energy" as the two can "complement each other."
"Wind and solar power cannot supply electricity continuously, but fusion can. Fusion can also provide process heat for industry and energy for the production of synthetic fuels such as hydrogen," she said.
Steep energy costs harm German industry
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video [videojs.com]
After decades of research, scientists first managed to achieve a net energy gain [dw.com] — meaning the energy delivered by the fusion reaction was higher than what was used to make the atomic nuclei fuse — at the end of 2022.
The experiment used high-powered lasers to achieve the feat.
Other concepts use strong magnetic fields to confine super-hot plasma particles that combine and fuse to release energy.
When will fusion power plants become reality?
The 2022 breakthrough and subsequent experiments have raised hopes of unlocking fusion's full potential in the near future.
Daniel Kammen, Bloomberg distinguished professor of energy and climate justice at Johns Hopkins University, thinks the "old adage" that nuclear fusion is five decades away, and has been five decades away for many decades is "no longer true."
"Advances in the diversity of approaches, in the use of machine learning and AI to control issues like magnetic (tokamak) confinement, and in system operation have all radically changed the situation," he told DW in an emailed statement.
"I have forecast that fusion prototypes will be in the pilot phase on the grid within a decade, and possibly sooner."
But other experts, including Sarah Klein, say it will take longer for commercially viable fusion power to materialize. "It's true that commercial fusion remains a long‑term prospect with significant technical and economic uncertainty. So it cannot substitute for the urgent deployment of renewables and storage today."
Klein's view is shared by Sibylle Günter, who expects the first fusion-power plants to go on the grid "in about two decades," but only if the necessary efforts are made now.
"The question is: Are we prepared today to invest in a technology so that it will be available when we need it to meet our growing energy needs?"
Edited by: Uwe Hessler
AdvertisementAdvertisementSkip next section Explore moreExplore more Nuclear Fusion action plan (in German) [bmftr.bund.de] Nuclear Fusion action plan (in German) [bmftr.bund.de]www.bmftr.bund.de [bmftr.bund.de]Skip next section Related topicsRelated topics German election 2025 [dw.com]African digital natives [dw.com] Volkswagen's crisis [dw.com]Artificial intelligence [dw.com]German economy [dw.com]Friedrich Merz [dw.com]Skip next section Explore moreExplore more Nuclear Fusion action plan (in German) [bmftr.bund.de] Nuclear Fusion action plan (in German) [bmftr.bund.de]www.bmftr.bund.de [bmftr.bund.de]Skip next section Related topicsRelated topics German election 2025 [dw.com]African digital natives [dw.com] Volkswagen's crisis [dw.com]Artificial intelligence [dw.com]German economy [dw.com]Friedrich Merz [dw.com]
Germany [dw.com] consumes vast amounts of energy to sustain its manufacturing might and energy-intensive sectors like the automotive [dw.com] and chemical industry.
The country, Europe's largest economy [dw.com], still relies heavily on fossil fuels for its energy needs, even though the share of renewable sources like wind and solar [dw.com] has risen steadily over the past two decades.
The German government has been implementing an ambitious energy transition plan [dw.com] to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. It completely phased out nuclear power in 2023, and plans to wean itself off coal by 2038.
To balance the energy and environmental commitments [dw.com], Berlin is also betting on new technologies such as green hydrogen and nuclear fusion.
A smart bet?
Chancellor Friedrich Merz's [dw.com] Cabinet this month unveiled an action plan [bmftr.bund.de] to accelerate the development of nuclear fusion technology. It wants Germany to build the world's first fusion reactor, allocating €1.7 billion ($1.98 billion) in funding for the project.
Berlin hopes the technology will provide abundant clean, safe and reliable energy in the future.
Can nuclear fusion solve the energy crisis?
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video [videojs.com]
Sarah Klein, commissioner for fusion research at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology in Aachen, Germany, says investing in fusion technology is a "smart long‑term strategic bet."
"[It] keeps Germany at the forefront of a global technology race and — alongside renewables — is crucial for ensuring energy sovereignty after the phaseout of fossil fuels," she told DW.
Sibylle Günter, scientific director of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, agreed, noting that German energy demand is "rising steadily."
"Nuclear fusion is a technology that can help us secure our energy supply without CO2 emissions in the long term and remain competitive as an industrial nation," Günter told DW.
'Catalyst for innovation'
Scientists have for decades [dw.com] sought to harness nuclear fusion to generate energy.
It involves bashing together two light atomic nuclei at such high temperatures and pressure that they fuse, and release energy. It's the same basic process that sees hydrogen in the sun converted into helium, generating sunlight and making life on Earth possible.
Fusion is a reverse of what happens in today's nuclear power plants — nuclear fission [dw.com] — where large atoms are split in a chain reaction to release energy.
Unlike nuclear fission, nuclear fusion leaves behind no radioactive waste, thus holding the promise of delivering abundant, climate-friendly energy without pollution and radioactive waste.
Germany is not alone in betting big on nuclear fusion.
Countries like the US, China, Japan and the UK have been pumping billions into accelerating the development of the technology. In addition, dozens of private startups have joined the fray.
"The most innovative economies in the world are already making substantial investments in fusion. Therefore, investing in fusion is a vital future strategy for Germany's high-tech sector," Klein said.
The Fraunhofer scientist underlines that the investment is crucial for the country to remain competitive on the global stage and secure technological sovereignty.
"Beyond the science, fusion acts as a catalyst for innovation," she said, pointing to other critical technologies such as superconducting magnets, high‑power systems, advanced materials, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) [dw.com].
"It is vital to involve industry stakeholders early to initiate and leverage spillover effects into other markets," she added.
Waste of money?
Critics, however, view the spending of vast sums on the pursuit of nuclear fusion as misguided and a waste of resources. They argue that the money could be better spent on scaling up other renewable projects.
But Sibylle Günter is convinced there mustn't be a "conflict between renewables and fusion energy" as the two can "complement each other."
"Wind and solar power cannot supply electricity continuously, but fusion can. Fusion can also provide process heat for industry and energy for the production of synthetic fuels such as hydrogen," she said.
Steep energy costs harm German industry
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video [videojs.com]
After decades of research, scientists first managed to achieve a net energy gain [dw.com] — meaning the energy delivered by the fusion reaction was higher than what was used to make the atomic nuclei fuse — at the end of 2022.
The experiment used high-powered lasers to achieve the feat.
Other concepts use strong magnetic fields to confine super-hot plasma particles that combine and fuse to release energy.
When will fusion power plants become reality?
The 2022 breakthrough and subsequent experiments have raised hopes of unlocking fusion's full potential in the near future.
Daniel Kammen, Bloomberg distinguished professor of energy and climate justice at Johns Hopkins University, thinks the "old adage" that nuclear fusion is five decades away, and has been five decades away for many decades is "no longer true."
"Advances in the diversity of approaches, in the use of machine learning and AI to control issues like magnetic (tokamak) confinement, and in system operation have all radically changed the situation," he told DW in an emailed statement.
"I have forecast that fusion prototypes will be in the pilot phase on the grid within a decade, and possibly sooner."
But other experts, including Sarah Klein, say it will take longer for commercially viable fusion power to materialize. "It's true that commercial fusion remains a long‑term prospect with significant technical and economic uncertainty. So it cannot substitute for the urgent deployment of renewables and storage today."
Klein's view is shared by Sibylle Günter, who expects the first fusion-power plants to go on the grid "in about two decades," but only if the necessary efforts are made now.
"The question is: Are we prepared today to invest in a technology so that it will be available when we need it to meet our growing energy needs?"
Edited by: Uwe Hessler
AdvertisementAdvertisementSkip next section Explore moreExplore more Nuclear Fusion action plan (in German) [bmftr.bund.de] Nuclear Fusion action plan (in German) [bmftr.bund.de]www.bmftr.bund.de [bmftr.bund.de]Skip next section Related topicsRelated topics German election 2025 [dw.com]African digital natives [dw.com] Volkswagen's crisis [dw.com]Artificial intelligence [dw.com]German economy [dw.com]Friedrich Merz [dw.com]Skip next section Explore moreExplore more Nuclear Fusion action plan (in German) [bmftr.bund.de] Nuclear Fusion action plan (in German) [bmftr.bund.de]www.bmftr.bund.de [bmftr.bund.de]Skip next section Related topicsRelated topics German election 2025 [dw.com]African digital natives [dw.com] Volkswagen's crisis [dw.com]Artificial intelligence [dw.com]German economy [dw.com]Friedrich Merz [dw.com]
Germany [dw.com] consumes vast amounts of energy to sustain its manufacturing might and energy-intensive sectors like the automotive [dw.com] and chemical industry.
The country, Europe's largest economy [dw.com], still relies heavily on fossil fuels for its energy needs, even though the share of renewable sources like wind and solar [dw.com] has risen steadily over the past two decades.
The German government has been implementing an ambitious energy transition plan [dw.com] to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. It completely phased out nuclear power in 2023, and plans to wean itself off coal by 2038.
To balance the energy and environmental commitments [dw.com], Berlin is also betting on new technologies such as green hydrogen and nuclear fusion.
A smart bet?
Chancellor Friedrich Merz's [dw.com] Cabinet this month unveiled an action plan [bmftr.bund.de] to accelerate the development of nuclear fusion technology. It wants Germany to build the world's first fusion reactor, allocating €1.7 billion ($1.98 billion) in funding for the project.
Berlin hopes the technology will provide abundant clean, safe and reliable energy in the future.
Can nuclear fusion solve the energy crisis?
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video [videojs.com]
Sarah Klein, commissioner for fusion research at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology in Aachen, Germany, says investing in fusion technology is a "smart long‑term strategic bet."
"[It] keeps Germany at the forefront of a global technology race and — alongside renewables — is crucial for ensuring energy sovereignty after the phaseout of fossil fuels," she told DW.
Sibylle Günter, scientific director of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, agreed, noting that German energy demand is "rising steadily."
"Nuclear fusion is a technology that can help us secure our energy supply without CO2 emissions in the long term and remain competitive as an industrial nation," Günter told DW.
'Catalyst for innovation'
Scientists have for decades [dw.com] sought to harness nuclear fusion to generate energy.
It involves bashing together two light atomic nuclei at such high temperatures and pressure that they fuse, and release energy. It's the same basic process that sees hydrogen in the sun converted into helium, generating sunlight and making life on Earth possible.
Fusion is a reverse of what happens in today's nuclear power plants — nuclear fission [dw.com] — where large atoms are split in a chain reaction to release energy.
Unlike nuclear fission, nuclear fusion leaves behind no radioactive waste, thus holding the promise of delivering abundant, climate-friendly energy without pollution and radioactive waste.
Germany is not alone in betting big on nuclear fusion.
Countries like the US, China, Japan and the UK have been pumping billions into accelerating the development of the technology. In addition, dozens of private startups have joined the fray.
"The most innovative economies in the world are already making substantial investments in fusion. Therefore, investing in fusion is a vital future strategy for Germany's high-tech sector," Klein said.
The Fraunhofer scientist underlines that the investment is crucial for the country to remain competitive on the global stage and secure technological sovereignty.
"Beyond the science, fusion acts as a catalyst for innovation," she said, pointing to other critical technologies such as superconducting magnets, high‑power systems, advanced materials, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) [dw.com].
"It is vital to involve industry stakeholders early to initiate and leverage spillover effects into other markets," she added.
Waste of money?
Critics, however, view the spending of vast sums on the pursuit of nuclear fusion as misguided and a waste of resources. They argue that the money could be better spent on scaling up other renewable projects.
But Sibylle Günter is convinced there mustn't be a "conflict between renewables and fusion energy" as the two can "complement each other."
"Wind and solar power cannot supply electricity continuously, but fusion can. Fusion can also provide process heat for industry and energy for the production of synthetic fuels such as hydrogen," she said.
Steep energy costs harm German industry
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video [videojs.com]
After decades of research, scientists first managed to achieve a net energy gain [dw.com] — meaning the energy delivered by the fusion reaction was higher than what was used to make the atomic nuclei fuse — at the end of 2022.
The experiment used high-powered lasers to achieve the feat.
Other concepts use strong magnetic fields to confine super-hot plasma particles that combine and fuse to release energy.
When will fusion power plants become reality?
The 2022 breakthrough and subsequent experiments have raised hopes of unlocking fusion's full potential in the near future.
Daniel Kammen, Bloomberg distinguished professor of energy and climate justice at Johns Hopkins University, thinks the "old adage" that nuclear fusion is five decades away, and has been five decades away for many decades is "no longer true."
"Advances in the diversity of approaches, in the use of machine learning and AI to control issues like magnetic (tokamak) confinement, and in system operation have all radically changed the situation," he told DW in an emailed statement.
"I have forecast that fusion prototypes will be in the pilot phase on the grid within a decade, and possibly sooner."
But other experts, including Sarah Klein, say it will take longer for commercially viable fusion power to materialize. "It's true that commercial fusion remains a long‑term prospect with significant technical and economic uncertainty. So it cannot substitute for the urgent deployment of renewables and storage today."
Klein's view is shared by Sibylle Günter, who expects the first fusion-power plants to go on the grid "in about two decades," but only if the necessary efforts are made now.
"The question is: Are we prepared today to invest in a technology so that it will be available when we need it to meet our growing energy needs?"
Edited by: Uwe Hessler
AdvertisementAdvertisementSkip next section Explore moreExplore more Nuclear Fusion action plan (in German) [bmftr.bund.de] Nuclear Fusion action plan (in German) [bmftr.bund.de]www.bmftr.bund.de [bmftr.bund.de]Skip next section Related topicsRelated topics German election 2025 [dw.com]African digital natives [dw.com] Volkswagen's crisis [dw.com]Artificial intelligence [dw.com]German economy [dw.com]Friedrich Merz [dw.com]Skip next section Explore moreExplore more Nuclear Fusion action plan (in German) [bmftr.bund.de] Nuclear Fusion action plan (in German) [bmftr.bund.de]www.bmftr.bund.de [bmftr.bund.de]Skip next section Related topicsRelated topics German election 2025 [dw.com]African digital natives [dw.com] Volkswagen's crisis [dw.com]Artificial intelligence [dw.com]German economy [dw.com]Friedrich Merz [dw.com]About DW
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A Nuclear Donut Broke a Fusion Record Chasing Unlimited Energy [popularmechanics.com]:
Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:
- A nuclear fusion reactor in Germany has reached world record numbers for runtime.
- The tokamak dominates fusion research in 2025, but stellarators are making a comeback.
- A stellarator is still a donut shape, but extended and twisted, with different pros and cons.
In an announcement this year, the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics shared a breakthrough [ipp.mpg.de] from its world class stellarator, Wendelstein 7-X. The stellarator is a nuclear fusion reactor [popularmechanics.com] with the same goals and principles as a tokamak reactor, but with a different footprint that comes with unique challenges. W7-X, based at the Planck Institute’s campus in Greifswald in northern Germany, is now purportedly on par with the much larger Joint European Torus (JET) tokamak reactor in southern England.
Related Story
- The Beating Heart of ITER Is Finally Complete [popularmechanics.com]
As of now, neither achievement has been published in a peer-reviewed journal, and we’re also still a long, long ways away from net positive nuclear fusion energy—let alone the “infinite energy [popularmechanics.com]” promised by industry investors. Still, it’s exciting to set a new benchmark.
For several decades now, the popular paradigm for nuclear fusion research has been the tokamak [popularmechanics.com]. This is a donut shape, or torus, filled with an open space where plasma is circulated. But it’s more like a New York bagel, with a smaller hole and denser bulk. The stellarator, with an elongated and twisted chamber, is a Krakow bagel [mrshuttle.com].
New York BagelNew York BagelKrakow BagelKrakow Bagel
The stellarator predates the tokamak, but in the early years of nuclear fusion experimentation, the tokamak passed the stellarator in popularity. Now, however, both are neck and neck again—if these results hold up, that is.
W7-X, which came online in 2015, reached the end of its most recent campaign in May. The Planck Institute said in a statement:
In the OP 2.3 campaign, which ended on May 22, the international W7-X team achieved a new world record for the triple product [which is a way that researchers can get an idea of how close they are to the fusion reaction sustaining itself] in long plasma discharges: on this last day, they sustained a new peak value of this key fusion parameter for 43 seconds.
The team credits emerging technologies in their field, like ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH), for their new benchmark. ICRH is comparable to an existing paradigm in the field called electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH), which usually uses microwaves to make plasma [popularmechanics.com]. ICRH—which uses radio waves but is otherwise a similar idea—can work better for certain particle types or configurations.
The triple product these researchers describe is a mathematical benchmark in nuclear fusion energy research. Once the entire industry can reach a certain value, proponents say, we can begin to use nuclear fusion as an energy source. W7-X did not reach net positive energy, but it seems to have broken the existing record for energy output versus input. After publicizing their results, the W7-X team heard from the JET team (whose work on their final runs in 2023 has not been published yet), and the two projects have reportedly achieved comparable numbers [popularmechanics.com]. The W7-X team claims that this means their experiment had the same results as the JET team’s experiment using just ⅓ the plasma.
Related Story
- Scientists May Have Found the Key to Fusion Energy [popularmechanics.com]
These reactors must reach enormously high temperatures, sustain them, and sustain them long enough that more energy is produced than used. To be clear, no nuclear fusion reactor has reached net positive energy, so benchmarks in this calculation are just chipping away at a goal we have not yet achieved. The W7-X website [ipp.mpg.de] said of the triple product: “This marks the point where the energy balance becomes positive, and the fusion reaction can sustain itself without continued external heating,” but that’s not the whole story. There’s a lot to be accounted for in terms of the equipment itself, the facilities, the cooling required, and so forth. No one has reached the conservative benchmark for net energy using the triple product, so even less than zero, so to speak, have reached the true benchmark accounting for energy costs.
Fusion energy is exciting, and researching these technologies has led to many new papers, new science jobs, and hopeful visions for the future [popularmechanics.com]. But it isn’t ready now, and likely won’t be for a long time.
Caroline Delbert [popularmechanics.com]
Caroline Delbert is a writer, avid reader, and contributing editor at Pop Mech. She's also an enthusiast of just about everything. Her favorite topics include nuclear energy, cosmology, math of everyday things, and the philosophy of it all.
See also:
- Wendelstein 7-X - Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]
