Nuclear fusion as a massive, clean, and inexhaustible energy source for the second half of the century: brief history, status, and perspective

Fusion energy, based on the use of broadly available inexhaustible resources as lithium and deuterium and with minimal impact to the environment, aims at a change in the energy supply paradigm: instead of its current dependence on natural resources and environmental impact, energy would become a technology‐dependent resource with unlimited adaptive availability and whose unit cost should decrease as technology progresses. This article intends to give a picture of where fusion research stands today and the perspectives: the achievements, the difficulties, the current status, marked by the construction of the ITER experiment which will demonstrate the scientific feasibility of fusion power, and the perspectives toward the first demonstration power plant, DEMO , which, according to the European Roadmap, could start the construction shortly after the full power experiments in ITER (<2030) and be in full operation, generating net electricity into the grid, by 2050.