The race is on to build the first fusion power plant — and Europe is looking to Japan for help

Shulz | E+ | Getty ImagesThe race is on to build the world's first commercial fusion power plant — and one of Europe's leading contenders in the field has just received a boost.Munich-based Proxima Fusion signed memoranda of understanding with two Japanese industrial partners, Fujikura and Kyoto Fusioneering, in Tokyo on Oct. 28. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz — who was visiting in a bid to deepen trade ties — were both in attendance. Ann Mettler, president of Catalyse Europe, a Brussels-based clean-energy think tank, and a former vice president of Breakthrough Energy, said developing the technology should be a strategic imperative for Europe."Europe is a resource-poor geography and we are very dependent on China. The world is in competition for technological supremacy — this is a zero-sum game," Mettler told CNBC, speaking in a personal capacity."Fusion is a silver bullet because the promise is abundant, clean, limitless energy."Fusion energy seeks to replicate the way the sun produces power, using super-heated plasma to fuse two light atomic nuclei into one heavier one, releasing vast amounts of energy in the process.There are two main...