Dennis White, at left, the cofounder of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, and Bob Mumgaard, the company’s CEO, at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. IN TRYING TO EXPLAIN their recent fusion energy breakthrough, Dennis Whyte of MIT and Bob Mumgaard of Commonwealth Fusion Systems reached back to the dawn of aviation. Fusion could be a life-saver for the planet, producing carbon-free, relatively inexpensive energy with no waste byproducts. It works the same way the sun does, by merging two atoms together under extreme heat to release vast amounts of energy. It’s the opposite of the fission process used by nuclear power plants, where atoms are split to release large amounts of energy. The potential benefits of fusion are well-known, but containing a mixture of electrically charged particles being heated at 100 million degrees is a major challenge. In an interview on The Codcast , Whyte and Mumgaard explained how earlier […]