Near-oxymoronic requirements: the materials challenges of fusion energy

Nuclear fusion powers the Sun, and scientists and engineers have long been trying to harness the process to generate clean energy. While much progress has been made, the commercially-viable generation of fusion energy remains elusive. One important challenge is developing a range of specialized materials that can contain an extremely hot, radiation-emitting plasma in close proximity to ultracold superconducting magnets. Our guest this week is Jacob John of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, who studies how radiation damages materials. In conversation with Physics World’s Matin Durrani, he talks about the near-oxymoronic materials requirements for fusion reactors and how they can be met.