Click here to watch Senator Barrasso’s opening remarks.

WASHINGTON, DC— Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (ENR), delivered the following remarks at a full committee hearing to examine fusion energy technology development and commercialization efforts.

The hearing featured testimony from Dr. Jean Paul Allain, Associate Director of the Office of Fusion Energy Services, U.S. Department of Energy; Ms. Jackie Siebens, Director of Public Affairs at Helion Energy and Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center; Dr. Patrick White, Research Director, Nuclear Innovation Alliance.

For more information on witness testimony click here.

“Thank you Mr. Chairman please feel free to interject. We have a great working relationship.

“I'm so proud of what we were able to do with permitting.

“I continue to hear about the success of the bill that came out of this committee.

“All of us here sitting here today voted for it, 15 to 4.

“And I'd like to get that on the floor of the Senate as quickly as possible.

“Thank you for holding this hearing today.

“And I'd like also as quickly as possible to see this come to fruition, what we're talking about today.

“This is a critically important topic, nuclear fusion.

“It's a process of combining two elements, such as hydrogen, to create a heavier element and generate energy.

“That's what it's about, generating energy.

“It is the atomic reaction that powers our sun.

“And, if harnessed here on earth, offers unlimited, emission-free energy.

“Often considered the holy grail of energy production.

“This committee last considered nuclear fusion – doesn’t seem that long – but it is actually two years ago we had the hearing on this, and since then, there has been some noteworthy progress that’s been made.

“In December 2022, the Department of Energy announced that scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Lab achieved ‘scientific breakeven.’

“This occurs when a fusion experiment produces more energy than it uses.

“Since then, the scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab have been able to repeat this process on four additional occasions.

“Over the last two years, we have also witnessed growth of the fusion industry.

“In 2022, there were 33 fusion companies working on this in the private sector.

“Now, there are 45.

“According to the Fusion Industry Association, these companies have attracted over $7 billion of private investment, with over $900 million in new funding just in the last year.

“So it’s clear that investors do see great potential in fusion.

“While these developments are encouraging, we need to remain clear eyed about the challenges ahead.

“There is no question that ‘scientific breakeven’ was significant.

“Yet scientists have not yet been able to reliably and consistently reproduce the reaction.

“Mastering ‘scientific breakeven’ is necessary before nuclear fusion can be commercially available.

“Another challenge that scientists face is converting fusion energy into electricity.

“To date, no fusion reactor has made it to this stage.

“Yet several fusion companies expect to put electrons on the grid in the next decade.

“Helion, one of our witnesses today, has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to provide Microsoft with electricity by 2028.

“Helion has signed an agreement to provide electricity to Nucor, a steel producer, around 2030.

“I am interested to hear how the plans for Helion are to meet these ambitious commitments.

“Advances in fusion energy come at a time when America’s demand for electricity is expected to grow rapidly.

“I brought an article here previously from the New York Times saying, by five years from now, that the need for energy nationwide would be like adding a new California to the grid as a result of all the areas where new energy is needed.

“Much of this demand is going to be driven by data centers powering artificial intelligence, bitcoin mining, and cloud computing, storage centers.

“If we can’t provide these facilities with affordable and reliable power, America’s going to cede its leadership position of these critical technologies.

“China understands this. They understand the race for artificial intelligence is also a race to secure the energy to power the computers.

“This is one reason why China is aggressively competing with us on fusion.

“Mr. Chairman, I think you and I talked about this Wall Street Journal article headline. This was Tuesday, July 9^th: ‘Beijing Leads U.S. in Fusion Race.’

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 “It quotes Dr. Allain who leads the Department of Energy’s fusion office and is one of our witnesses here today.

“According to your quote in this article, China appears to be following our road map of how to commercialize fusion energy.

“They have this ability to copycat what we do and then try to advance it in ways to get ahead of us, to leapfrog us.”

“His quote is, ‘They’re building our long-range plan.’

“And, you say that it’s very frustrating, as you can imagine, because that is the way China does it on so many things.

“So, I am interested to learn what we need to do to protect American interests and regain our competitive advantage.

“I would also like to learn how the Department can become a better steward of taxpayer dollars when it comes to fusion research.

“I want to thank you, thank the witnesses for being here.

“Thank you Mr. Chairman, and I look forward to the testimony. I know everyone here does.

“Thank you.”