 It is estimated that up to the point of possible implementation of electricity generation by nuclear fusion, R&D will need further promotion totalling around over a period of or so (of which within the EU) based on a report from 2002.Nuclear fusion research receives (excluding ITER funding) from the European Union, compared with for sustainable energy research, putting research into fusion power well ahead of that of any single rivaling technology.Indeed, the size of the investments and time frame of the expected results mean that fusion research is almost exclusively publicly funded, while research in other forms of energy can be done by the private sector.