ITER fusion energy pushed back beyond 2050
Considering the advances of renewables, both solar and in&#x2F;off-shore wind, do we really need fusion?<p>Most of the issues with current fission are political (&quot;spent&quot; fuel <i>can</i> be reprocessed) and economic (these beasts are insanely expensive to build and operate safely) and we haven&#x27;t even touched MSR&#x27;s and Thorium. I get fusion would be beautiful, but it has its problems too (heavy neutron bombardment will eventually turn the reactor into a pile of hot nuclear waste - or, at best, MSR fuel) and we may need to face the simple fact our technology isn&#x27;t up to <i>that</i> challenge just yet.<p>Although stellarators may offer some shortcuts.<p>Maybe we&#x27;ll need fusion for multi-generation starships supposed to operate for many centuries on a closed loop system, but that need seems a bit too far into the future for us to concern ourselves too much with it. Solar should be fine up to Mars and compact fission should be enough up to the Oort cloud.