Fusion is not being envisioned solely as an energy source anymore.
A major problem right now is it takes much more power to fuse certain hydrogen elements than what is produced.
Now, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are developing the technology for medical purposes and detection of nuclear explosives.
For more than 30 years, UW-Madison engineering professor Gerald Kulcinski has been one of a number of researchers at universities and federal laboratories working to find an economically feasible way to use fusion to make electricity.