Nuclear fusion: it’s time for a reality check | Letters

Significant obstacles lie ahead in the quest for commercially viable nuclear fusion, writes Luca Garzotti

I can't help thinking Ed Miliband has not been accurately briefed when he says a government funding pledge means Britain is within grasping distance" of secure, clean, unlimited energy" from nuclear fusion (Ministers pledge record 410m to support UK nuclear fusion energy, 16 January).

Before we start talking about nuclear fusion via magnetic confinement as a commercially viable source of energy, five main challenges have to be met by the scientific community, each one of them a potential showstopper. Wehave to demonstrate: