On Monday 26th June, the Catalan TV Channel 33 interviewed our group leader Prof. Mervi Mantsinen regarding to the prospects of fusion energy and its potential impact on society.
The programme was a part of the documentary series El dia de demà which investigates and discusses many possible future scenarios through the point of view of experts. The topics treated in the various programmes of the series are various, ranging from education to energy sources.
In this chapter, a total of three experts in energy sources were interviewed. They discussed about the dangers of the current energetic model which is largely based on generating nuclear wastes and delievering large amounts of CO2 to the atmosphere. In order to improve this situation, there is a clear will in Catalonia to promote renewable energy sources. In fact, there is a project to substitute all the present energy sources for renewable ones by 2050, which is quite an ambitious goal. Other energetic models were discussed as the ones that promote the self supply of energy through solar panels, which is already being implemented with very good results.
While there was a feeling of uncertainty regarding the capability of the alternative new energy sources to equate the present ones as, for example, fission nuclear power plants, there was clear consensus in the potential of fusion power to completely change the energetic paradigm. As stated by Prof. Mervi Mantsinen,
Safe, clean and abundant energy
is what humankind has been waiting for a long time. All the problems stated throughout the program would be solved with the fusion energy potential. Here in the Fusion group at BSC, as in many other institutions around the world, we are working hard to reach this goal.
