Two Bell Labs associates, Arthur L. Schawlow and Charles H. Townes are credited with the invention of the laser in the late 1950s, the feasibility of which was proposed by Einstein in 1919. The potential significance of that invention was emphasised in a BBC2 Horizon programme this week which examined the progress and future of nuclear fusion.

It was presented by Professor Brian Cox, a guy who wouldn’t look out of place in a Manchester alternative rock band, and a welcome new face to present complex scientific ideas.

Amongst 4 significant fusion research projects is that of the National Ignition Facility in California which although 5 years behind schedule and way over budget is due for completion this year. Essentially it is the world’s largest laser, or rather 196 lasers all designed to fire on one spot. That spot is a fuel source which when ignited by the lasers will (it is believed) result in nuclear fusion and produce a mini star that will burn for a fraction of a second but emit energy 10-100 greater than that required to ignite it.
The other featured research projects were the Z Machine in New Mexico, the Kstar project in South Korea and JET project in Oxfordshire UK.

If nothing else, the programme brought home the scale of the challenge facing the world in addressing its exponential energy needs. A plain speaking, no nonsense US scientist explained the calculations behind the power we consume today and what would be required if every person on earth had some equality in the power they used to live their lives comfortably.

The maths showed clearly the efforts required with various energy sources to meet those needs. With wind power, for example, we would have to cover virtually our global landmass in turbines to meet such needs and we would have to start doing it today with no delay. Each second that passes takes us further from achieving the goal.

The upshot of this exercise was to illustrate that none of world’s current energy sources could provide anywhere near the future energy requirements of the world if we are to sustain our way of lives in the western world and enable those in the developing world to enjoy much better standards of living. Even nuclear fission would require us to be building many hundreds more reactors than are planned and again for us to be doing it right now not in 5, 10 or 20 years time.

The programme left its presenter and me in no doubt that fusion is the only conceivable answer right now to the world’s energy and global warming challenges and that with a concerted global effort and more support for the research done to date then it is achievable. It would certainly appear to be a case of ‘when’ not ‘if’.

The programme ended with the various fusion project leaders and observers giving their view on when fusion energy would flow into the world’s power grid. The most optimistic view was 2022 – almost in the timeframe of this blog but a more general consensus pushed it to 2030-35.