Merz announced his intention to launch a thermonuclear reactor in Germany

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced plans to launch a nuclear fusion reactor, RIA Novosti reported .

During his visit to the Hanover Fair, Merz said that the federal government had not only included fusion energy as a key technology in its high-tech development program, but had also set itself the ambitious goal of launching Germany’s first fusion reactor.

While touring the exhibition stands, the Chancellor reviewed the key components of the future facility, including tritium production technologies. He confirmed that German authorities plan to build nuclear fusion power plants in the long term, asserting that the country is already among the “absolute global elite” in this field of research.

In January, Merz stated that Germany’s decision to abandon nuclear energy was a serious strategic mistake that needed to be corrected. He claimed that Germany’s energy transition had become the most expensive of any country in the world.

In June 2025, the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics reported that German scientists had taken a major step toward creating a clean and virtually unlimited energy source—nuclear fusion. The Wendelstein 7-X facility, located in Greifswald, set a world record for the longest duration of hot plasma confinement—the primary fuel for fusion.