WASHINGTON—Breakthroughs in replicating the energy that fires the sun have come fast and furious since 2022, when U.S. Department of Energy scientists in a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory experiment produced more energy than expended, spurring interest and investment in fusion.
But to sustain cutting-edge momentum in “putting a star in a jar” before China does, a U.S.-led “coalition of the ambitious” needs lightning in a bottle—an urgent $10 billion bolt in federal fusion funding—advocates told Trump administration officials and key House members at the Fusion Industry Association’s first-ever U.S. Fusion Forum on Oct. 15.
“The headwinds are tough these days, where it seems like we’re in a cutting mode, not a spending mode,” Trent Bauserman, head of federal affairs at Commonwealth Fusion Systems, said during a presentation before more than 200 attendees in Union Station’s East Hall….