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MIT News
MIT researchers tackle the economic realities of fusion power
MIT researchers tackle the economic realities of fusion power
Their new study aims to give budding industry a framework for understanding how fusion can be profitable.
Peter Dizikes<br>MIT News
Publication Date:
August 10, 2026
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“It’s challenging to reduce complex scientific and engineering requirements to economic consequences,” Professor Andrew Lo says. “But if we don’t do that, we’re not going to get the funding we need, to achieve the impact we want.”
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Caption:
“It’s challenging to reduce complex scientific and engineering requirements to economic consequences,” Professor Andrew Lo says. “But if we don’t do that, we’re not going to get the funding we need, to achieve the impact we want.”
Credits:
Image: MIT News; iStock
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In the last decade, scientists have shown that fusion energy can work, as a physical process. Next question: Can it work economically?<br>A study co-authored by MIT professors Dennis Whyte and Andrew W. Lo proposes a framework for understanding what’s needed to make fusion energy commercially viable in the marketplace. The method considers the physical inputs needed to sustain controlled fusion energy production, as well as the cost of building power plants that can compete in energy markets.<br>“It’s all the things that come along with finding, allocating, and spending money at this scale,” says Whyte, a professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT and a key driver of the field’s progress, who co-authored the paper. “This is critical to what we do. We should look at the economics. If we want this technology to actually be meaningful in the world economy, we have to start getting straight with ourselves about these topics.”<br>The goal of the paper, Whyte says, is to create “this framework, where are all the economics are clear, and then we understand what it would mean” for any fusion energy power plant.<br>Fusion energy harnesses the reaction that powers the stars: the fusion of light nuclei. It is often referred to as “plasma fusion,” as the fusion reactions generate fuel in a plasma state, often confined by magnets or initiated by powerful lasers. Whyte says the goal is to generate abundant energy while also offering society attractive safety, licensing, and siting options.<br>In 2022, researchers at the National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California, one of the U.S. national labs, achieved a reaction with positive energy gain. Venture funding has also poured into the field in recent years, although there are still many challenges regarding the construction of viable commercial fusion energy.<br>“It’s challenging to reduce complex scientific and engineering requirements to economic consequences,” Lo says. “But if we don’t do that, we’re not going to get the funding we need to achieve the impact we want.”<br>The open-access publication, “Criteria for the economic viability of fusion power plants,” appears online in the Journal of Fusion Energy. The authors are Whyte, who is the Hitachi America Professor of Engineering and a professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT; Lo, who is the Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor and a professor of finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management; Rachel Bielajew, an analyst with Rutherford...