Nuclear Fusion and the Future of Clean Energy

Rich Wagner

Recently,  the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California announced an enormous step forward in the race to provide clean energy.  For the first time since the 1950s, scientists have been able to create a nuclear fusion reaction that resulted in a net energy gain – the so called “holy grail” of a carbon-free future.

What does this mean for the future of clean energy?  The long-awaited milestone is a critical step towards developing technology that provides unlimited, cheap, clean power but it could be still be a decade or more away from commercial use.

Join Rich Wagner and the Chesapeake Forum on June 1st for look at recent, headline-making experiments in nuclear fusion and their implications for the future of plentiful, clean power.  Don’t worry if you aren’t particularly “technical”.   A previous student commented that Rich “has a wonderful understanding of the subject that he easily transfers to the listener”.

Laser Fusion Experiments and the Implications for Fusion Power is one (1) session, Thursday, June 1st from 10-11:30 am.  HYBRID (in person at the Easton Family YMCA, ZOOM or recording).  $20.  To register, visit https://chesapeakeforum.og

Rich Wagner is a physicist who worked on the beginnings of the fusion program at Livermore 1963-1981, and has been a member of government review panels on topics related to the science behind fusion since leaving Livermore in 1981 to become an Assistant Secretary of Defense, with responsibility for oversight of the US nuclear weapon program and of all Department of Defense matters related to chemical and biological weapons.

Chesapeake Forum is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing lifelong learning to residents of the Eastern Shore.  To receive Chesapeake Forum’s newsletter, please send your address and contact information to [email protected]