30 meters "The energy scene in the developing world is far from comfortable. The worst scenario is one where these countries are forbidden to burn expensive, and cannot use nuclear power because of safety issues and international -PK. Kaw, Institute for Plasma Research, Gujarat, India, October 1992 ITER will produce 1,000 PROGRESS To re-create the conditions of the sun and stars for the production of fusion energy on earth, scientists must accomplish three major tasks. They have already passed the first test by achieving the necessary temperatures. In some cases, they have attained temperatures as high as 400 million degrees, more than 20 times the temperature at the center of the sun. Second, they need to demonstrate sustained reactions where substantial amounts of energy are produced. In 1991, the world's largest fusion experiment, the Joint European Torus (JET), generated about two million watts of fusion power for one second--a million times more power than was possible only fifteen years ago. In 1993-94, the United States expects to produce five times again more power-ten million watts-in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, the first device to use the equal mix of deuterium and tritium likely to be used as fuel in a commercial reactor. The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is expected to produce a billion watts and to sustain energy production for pulses up to a thousand seconds by about the year 2010. U.S. fusion scientists are designing a superconducting machine, known as the Tokamak Physics Experiment (TPX), that would follow TFTR and pave the way for later fusion power plants. TPX would operate continuously (rather than in pulses) and would enable scientists and engineers to apply advanced techniques for confining and handling the plasmas (hot, ionized gases where the fusion reactions occur). Lessons learned from TPX will permit the design of more compact, economical fusion power plants than could be designed on the basis of ITER alone. In addition TPX will give U.S. industry experience with advanced fusion technologies, enhancing the U.S. contribution to successful operation of ITER. The third major milestone for fusion would be operation of a demonstration fusion power plant. This plant will incorporate the findings of TPX and ITER, as well as structural materials developed at the Fusion Materials Test Facility, being considered for operation around the year 2000. Under current funding projections, the demonstration power plant could be in operation by 2025, although enhanced support would accelerate that date, just as deferred support would delay it. The first commercial fusion power plants would be operational about 10 years later. THE FUSION CHALLENGE Fusion is one of the world's greatest scientific and technological challenges. Harnessing fusion as a practical source of energy requires: ⚫ achieving necessary temperatures, densities, and confinement times, an engineering design that is safe, reliable, and cost-effective. Enormous progress has been made. Remaining steps include: Study deuterium-tritium reactions, beginning with TFTR high power experiments in • Develop the basis for continuous operation of compact fusion reactors, starting with • Increase scientific and engineering knowledge by constructing a large-scale, pulsed Develop and test durable structural materials that ensure minimal radiological hazards. Top photo: Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor. Bottom photo: Interior view of Dill-D tokamak. PROMISE Although there is much work still to be done, fusion clearly offers the potential of abundant, environmentally attractive energy. Active participation in the design and construction of TPX and ITER will put U.S. industry in a competitive position for the development and deployment of fusion power in this country and around the world. and Furthermore fusion research has developed a wide array of products processes that have increased U.S. competitiveness in many other fields. For example, fusion research has contributed to the development of superconducting magnets, advanced scientific computing, computerassisted engineering design, plasma processing of semiconductors and other materials, high-power microwave sources, high-heat-flux and radiationresistant materials, robotics, high-voltage equipment, high-power lasers, and high-performance vacuum systems. During the next 50 years, the United States will spend trillions of dollars on new and replacement power plants. By investing now in fusion research, we will move toward a technology that can pay enormous dividends, measurable in the quantity of energy available and in the quality |