The world-saving potential of nuclear fusion just got a huge boost [View all]

The world-saving potential of nuclear fusion just got a huge boost: The goal of limitless clean energy is now clearly on the horizon, thanks to AI accelerating research.

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.....fusion might turn out to be AI’s “killer app” — proving the value of AI to deliver truly world-saving innovations..... At the heart of any fusion system is a burning plasma, an ultrahot — at least 100 million degrees — ionized gas of atoms fusing together. Over the past three decades, computational models of this hot plasma have evolved markedly. They were initially empirical, relying heavily on observational data from expensive, large-scale experiments. Today, these models are predictive, grounded in the fundamental laws of physics and extensively validated through experiments.

When we combine AI with predictive modeling, we start to see the revolutionary potential. Researchers at Princeton are already using machine learning to predict and eliminate plasma instabilities before they occur. This is critical because important decisions must be made every millisecond to control a plasma and keep a fusion reaction going. With AI, these decisions are more rapid, steering the plasma away from instability much more quickly. We’re also using AI to evaluate the best ways to heat the plasma inside a fusion vessel and to accelerate the latest generation of predictive simulation tools.

Although this is promising, the full potential of AI for fusion is just emerging. There are hundreds of billions of possible fusion reactor designs. How can we know which one is best for commercial fusion power? Finding the answer involves assumptions about the future energy market and construction costs alongside technical analysis. Building a commercial fusion reactor also requires precision engineering and aligned manufacturing. Analyzing a reactor design with traditional models takes months, making an exhaustive search impractical and slow. However, in the past two years, fast AI models are learning from and replacing these traditional models — reducing analysis time from months to hours. With AI, the hunt for the best or most viable commercial fusion reactor is on.