Video series
Fusion Support Tech
A fusion power plant needs far more than a plasma. This series by Mike Heumann, Chief Analyst at Ignition Research, examines the supporting technologies commercial fusion depends on. Each part comes with a one-minute explainer video.
The series
Watch the explainer, then read the analysis
Fusion Support Tech card
Oct 27, 2026
Fusion Support Tech Part 6: Pulsed Power Systems and Impedance-Matched Marx Generators (IMGs)
The Fusion Report’s series on the critical supporting technologies for commercial fusion energy continues with pulsed power systems and impedance-matched Marx generators (IMGs). Pulsed power stores energy slowly and releases it in extremely short, high-power bursts, and it plays a role in both inertial and magnetic fusion machines. At the National Ignition Facility, the power-conditioning system stores up to roughly […]
Fusion Support Tech card
Oct 13, 2026
Fusion Support Tech Part 5: High Energy Plasma Heating/Diagnostics For MFE and HFE Systems
The Fusion Report’s series on the critical supporting technologies for commercial fusion energy continues with plasma heating and diagnostics. All fusion approaches rely on diagnostics to measure temperature, density, confinement, impurities, and fusion-neutron output, while MFE and hybrid systems must also supply heating energy externally. Tokamaks start with ohmic heating, which loses effectiveness as plasma resistivity declines with temperature, then […]
Fusion Support Tech card
Sep 29, 2026
Fusion Support Tech Part 4: Commercial Fusion Energy Power Conversion and Fuel Management Systems
The Fusion Report’s series on the critical supporting technologies for commercial fusion energy continues with power conversion and fuel management systems. In D-T fusion, the 14.1 MeV neutron carries roughly 80% of the total energy into a thermal blanket, where the resulting heat drives a turbine and generator, largely the same mechanism that has been used for over 140 years. […]
Fusion Support Tech card
Sep 15, 2026
Fusion Support Tech Part 3: Building Divertor and Heat Exhaust Systems for Commercial Fusion Energy Machines
The Fusion Report continues its series on the critical supporting technologies for commercial fusion energy with a look at divertors and heat exhaust systems. Tokamaks such as ITER use X-point divertors with tungsten armor to pull helium ash, fuel ions, and heat out of the plasma edge, and reactor-scale designs are exploring snowflake and long-leg geometries such as Super-X to […]
Fusion Support Tech card
Sep 1, 2026
Fusion Support Tech Part 2: Making Fusion Energy Fuel And Building Fuel Injection Systems For Commercial Fusion Energy Machines
The Fusion Report continues its series on the challenges commercial fusion energy must overcome, this time examining fusion fuel and the systems that inject it into fusion machines. Despite claims that fusion fuel is essentially free, a hypothetical 1GW deuterium-tritium plant would burn roughly 100 grams of deuterium and 150 grams of tritium per day, with tritium costing roughly $30,000 […]
Fusion Support Tech card
Aug 18, 2026
Fusion Support Tech Part 1: Creating First-Wall Materials That Can Resist High-Energy Neutron Damage
The first wall is the innermost boundary facing a fusion plasma, and no material yet does everything asked of it. Tungsten leads on heat handling but can embrittle under neutron damage, while steels, vanadium alloys, silicon-carbide composites, and ultra-high-temperature ceramics each trade one strength for another. A newer approach abandons the solid surface entirely in favor of flowing liquid metal. […]
Get each new explainer as it lands
The Fusion Report newsletter goes out every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. You can also follow the series on our YouTube channel.