Strategic Initiative: The Promise of Fusion Energy

The Promise of Fusion Energy

The University of Arizona is leading the next frontier in fusion energy research and commercialization, harnessing the power of the stars to deliver a safe, sustainable, and virtually limitless energy source here on Earth.

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Meeting a Critical Global Need

Global energy demand continues to grow and will only accelerate. We need new energy sources that are safe, secure, reliable, and abundant enough to consistently meet baseline energy demand—also known as baseload—and to support renewable energy systems when they fall short.

Fusion is a clean, sustainable, and safe baseload energy source that will transform our world from energy scarcity to energy abundance. Fusion can produce abundant, low-cost, clean electricity for the grid, including desalinating water at a very competitive price point. Solving water scarcity with such energy abundance would address the major challenge to life here in the desert, enable continued agricultural production, and support the development of other high-growth industries such as AI, microelectronics, and critical mineral extraction and processing.

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Energy Independence

Fusion energy will transform how we power our lives. Arizona can help secure the nation’s energy future, reduce reliance on foreign sources, and strengthen national security.

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Powering the Digital World

The rise of AI, cloud computing, and streaming services has driven an explosive demand for energy-intensive data centers. These digital engines require constant, reliable power—making clean, baseload energy from fusion a vital part of meeting the world’s growing computing needs without increasing carbon emissions.

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Energy Equity Across the Globe

Around 750 million people still live without electricity, and more than two billion rely on unsafe fuels for cooking. Fusion energy could close this gap, offering safe, affordable, and sustainable power to communities worldwide—improving health, education, and opportunity.

Arizona’s Moment: Ready to Lead

Arizona stands at the forefront of the future energy economy. The state produces nearly three million megawatt-hours of carbon-free energy each year and sits between two of the nation’s largest energy hubs—California and the Gulf Coast. Our region offers unmatched advantages for fusion commercialization, including plentiful solar resources, a strong infrastructure, and access to essential minerals.

The University of Arizona is translating research breakthroughs into real-world solutions, creating a circular economy linking fusion energy to proven strengths in battery technology, advanced materials, and mining.

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Economic Growth

Fusion energy research and commercialization will fuel new industries, create high-paying jobs, and drive long-term economic growth across Arizona and beyond.

Establishing a Hub for Fusion Innovation 

Fusion energy is set to create a multi-trillion-dollar global industry driven by a specialized workforce, advanced infrastructure, and resilient supply chains. The University of Arizona is leading the way, building a world-class fusion hub to advance research and specialized training, while helping to fast-track commercialization. This initiative is more than an energy solution—it is an engine for sustainable U.S. economic growth, job creation, and technological leadership.

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Abundant Energy for the Planet

A reliable, carbon-free energy source will preserve vital ecosystems, sustaining healthy communities in Arizona and across the globe. 

In the News

Our Goals

  • Advance R&D: Target critical challenges in advanced materials, chemical and systems engineering, high-power laser development, and plasma science, and develop engineering designs with robust market potential.
  • Build the workforce: Develop experiential learning, professional training programs, and certificate pathways to prepare the next generation of fusion experts.
  • Foster public-private partnerships: Collaborate with national laboratories, the U.S. Department of Energy, utility companies, and industry leaders to accelerate lab-to-market strategies and commercial scale-up.
  • Establish a Research, Development, Test and Evaluation center of excellence in southern Arizona to integrate component technologies into fusion system prototypes to reduce the technology risk across the entire laser fusion supply chain.
  • Grow the startup ecosystem: Establish Arizona as a dynamic home for fusion startups and pave the way for the nation’s first commercial fusion power plants.
  • Capitalize on established commercialization platforms: Utilize Tech Launch Arizona, the University of Arizona Center for Innovation, and Tech Parks Arizona to turn breakthrough research into meaningful solutions with market entry potential.
An illustration of a hohlraum which is an empty space that is in radiative equilibrium

Understanding the Science

Laser-driven inertial confinement fusion uses a hohlraum (a special cylindrical enclosure) to generate X-rays that heat and compress a fuel-containing capsule containing isotopes of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium). These X-rays, produced by high-powered lasers heating the hohlraum, then drive the capsule implosion, achieving the conditions necessary for nuclear fusion. 

  1. Hohlraum: An enclosure, usually made of gold or tungsten, that surrounds the fuel capsule. It’s designed to efficiently convert laser energy into X-rays.
  2. X-ray Generation: High-powered lasers heat the hohlraum, causing it to emit a large quantity of X-rays.
  3. Ablation and Implosion: These X-rays from the hohlraum rapidly heat the outer surface of the fuel capsule, causing it to be vaporized (ablated). This creates a rocket-like effect that drives the capsule inwards, compressing and heating the fuel to extreme conditions.
  4. Fuel Compression and Heating: The implosion rapidly compresses the fuel (typically deuterium-tritium) to very high densities and temperatures. The fuel is held together by its own inertia, hence the term inertial confinement.
  5. Fusion Reactions: When the fuel reaches the necessary density and temperature, fusion reactions begin, releasing energy. 

The Science Up Close

Meet Our Team 

Our renowned faculty are driving advances that will shift Earth from energy scarcity to energy abundance—placing Arizona at the center at this growing industry.

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