Seventy-two members of the US Congress have signed a letter asking for increased funding for fusion energy in order to set the new nuclear technology on a credible path to commercialisation within a decade.

The bipartisan letter, sent to the House Appropriations Committee on 31 October, said the dawn of a new, US-led industry helping to power the global economy “may be within our reach”.

Failure to prioritise and strongly support investments essential to accelerating the US fusion programme would run the risk of inhibiting the growth of this potentially transformational industry, at the very time other nations, including the UK, Germany, and China, are “dramatically stepping up their investments to deploy commercial fusion”, the letter said.