[TL;DR Fusion is always 30 years away, or is it finally here?]
As you can see fusion has none of the downsides of fission power plants, however fusion power plants simply do not exist yet. Once fusion reaches commercial viability an entirely new era will begin for humanity. The wonders of physics based innovations bring us the biggest leaps in our civilizations understanding and material progress (future post coming!).
Research Tokamaks
This is a device where we are essentially creating a mini star using an immense amount of magnetic confinement. To further fusion research we must build these bigger and bigger as the device scales effectively with size. The typical star relies on incredibly strong gravitational forces from the body’s sheer size.
STEP
Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production - UK Atomic Energy Authority
ITER
International Nuclear Fusion Research and engineering megaproject
Stellarators
“DOE (Department of Energy) Explains…Stellarators”
These are geometrically computer-optimized designs of a Tokamak, but people argue whether the trade offs are worth it. Such as difficulty of repair versus a conventional Tokamak.
Inertially Confined Fusion
Instead of magnetically containing large amounts of plasma which is super complex we can use sheer kinetic velocity to smash atoms into fusion.
Helion Energy
General Fusion
Zap Energy
First Light Fusion
Commercial Tokamaks
This is definitely decades away, at the minimum, nevertheless companies are starting to work on this.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems
Tokamak Energy
Commercial Viability
Net Energy Gain
Initial Investment
Fusions research process will cost us billions if not trillions of dollars to perfect, but once we do energy will essentially become free beyond that point.