On the 12th. of December 2006 the UK Magnetics Society held its annual commemorative event with an afternoon seminar followed by the Ewing Lecture. This year the focus was on magnetic fusion energy.

Nuclear fusion has evoked opinions in the various energy blogs ranging from “sixty years of failure and a certain dead end”, to “the reason why we do not need to worry about peak oil”. This event was a good opportunity to gain a clearer view of what part, if any, fusion energy could play in filling the gap as oil and then gas production peak and decline.