Full Interview: The Fusion Future
Show notes
There is a near-limitless energy source to power our world, and it may be almost here.
Dennis Whyte shares with Hakeem that we're closer than ever to bottling the power of the sun. He would know. He’s now the CEO of the United Kingdom’s Atomic Energy Authority and a nuclear scientist at MIT. What happens when we finally unlock nuclear fusion, the same energy source that powers the sun? What even is fusion? How does it work, and why are scientists now so close to building commercially viable fusion systems that could put power on the grid? From fusion fundamentals, to the future of energy, to interstellar space travel, Dennis and Hakeem deliver a big conversation on an innovation that could change everything.
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Guest Bio:
Dennis Whyte is the Hitachi America Professor of Engineering at MIT and former director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center. He co-founded Commonwealth Fusion Systems, the MIT spinout building a compact fusion reactor using record-breaking superconducting magnets, and is now the CEO of the United Kingdom's Atomic Energy Authority.