Turning neutrons into electricity: Spurred on by recent scientific triumphs at Princeton and Culham, England, engineers take up the challenge of designing practical fusion reactors that can compete with fossil-fuel power plants

At a demonstration power plant in Chicago in the year 2010, a fusion reactor engineered for commercial power production delivers 1200 megawatts of electricity to the local grid. Called Starfire, it is generating electricity at a cost comparable to that of neighboring oil- and coal-fired power plants. Government studies predict a worldwide depletion of oil resources by the middle of the century, and a potential cutoff of Middle East oil supplies is imminent because of political hostilities. Meanwhile, environmental groups have gained the favor of politicians in the mid-western and eastern states, amid rising reports of worsening air pollution and atmospheric carbon dioxide buildup linked in part to coal-fired plants. The fusion reactor constitutes the first implementation of the nation's long-term energy option.