Bringing the sunʼs fusion power to earth

Fumiyoshi Kin

Institute of Advanced Energy

Nuclear fusion power generation, utilizing fusion energy, is gaining attention as an innovative technology for a sustainable future. It has the potential to fundamentally solve energy problems: it puts less of a burden on the global environment than existing power generation methods (there are no resource depletion concerns because seawater is used for fuel), and it is very safe (there is no high-level radioactive waste). At Kyoto University, research is being conducted to generate nuclear fusion energy by confining plasma in a helical magnetic field using a specially designed experimental device, Heliotron J. I am developing methods to understand and control turbulence, the main obstacle in plasma confinement. I hope that harnessing nuclear fusion, the mechanism by which the sun produces heat and light, will improve people’s lives on Earth.