National Academies calls for a fusion pilot plant Concept for a tokamak fusion pilot plant. Note figure of a human being at bottom right, giving a sense of scale. Image courtesy of T. Brown, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently completed two studies that together map out a strategy for the development of fusion energy. The first, issued in 2019, titled “Final Report of the Committee on a Strategic Plan for US Burning Plasma Research,” endorsed a new goal for US fusion energy research and development: a fusion pilot plant. It recommended that the United States should focus its fusion R&D on a minimum-cost device capable of putting electricity on the grid, with the capability of qualifying the technologies required for economically competitive fusion energy.