Another reasonable question to ask is—why is fusion energy facing so few regulatoy challenges?
Answer:
Inside the tokamak, the plasma fuel will be five times hotter than the center of the sun. But it’s delicate, so there’s nothing to be afraid of, says Mumgaard.
“Some people think of fusion as like lava … you know, hot like lava ... but that’s actually not what it is,” he says. “It’s actually closer like a candle in the wind.”
The conditions to make fusion in a tokamak are so difficult to create and sustain, which makes the devices inherently safe, says Mumgaard. They can’t melt down.
“If you think about it, stars are out in space, they don’t touch anything,” he says. “And that’s what you have to basically build in a fusion machine. And the minute it touches something, it doesn’t melt through like lava. It extinguishes like a flame.”
https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/12/02/massachusetts-fusion-power
“But the new high temperature superconducting magnet, like those that will be used in Commonwealth Fusion’s SPARC device, will consume just 20 watts”
Assuming ZERO losses it would take three years just to build up the 100 Mj of stored energy!