Nuclear fusion fascinates and divides. Beyond the major international collaboration ITER, set up in the 1980s to provide a prototype power plant that could actually be used to supply electricity to the grid, recent advances have seen the emergence of new players in the field, including start-ups.

To take stock of the scientific and technological challenges of fusion, and to better understand how researchers are coping with being involved in such long-term projects, Elsa Couderc, Science and Technology Editor at The Conversation France, spoke to Yannick Marandet. A plasma physics researcher, he has long been director of the French Research Federation on Fusion by Magnetic Confinement (FR-FCM), and is currently co-directing a major research project on superconductors and fusion, funded by France 2030.

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