Open AccessA Pilot Plant: The Fastest Path to Commercial Fusion Energy
Author(s) -
Robert James Goldston
Publication year - 2010
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/973205
Subject(s) - thermonuclear fusion , fusion power , fusion , power station , energy (signal processing) , path (computing) , bridge (graph theory) , magnetic confinement fusion , computer science , nuclear engineering , engineering , electrical engineering , nuclear physics , physics , tokamak , plasma , medicine , philosophy , linguistics , quantum mechanics , programming language
Considerable effort has been dedicated to determining the possible properties of a magneticconfinement fusion power plant, particularly in the U.S.1, Europe2 and Japan3. There has also been some effort to detail the development path to fusion energy, particularly in the U.S.4 Only limited attention has been given, in Japan5 and in China6, to the options for a specific device to form the bridge from the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ITER, to commercial fusion energy. Nor has much attention been paid, since 2003, to the synergies between magnetic and inertial fusion energy development. Here we consider, at a very high level, the possibility of a Qeng ≥ 1 Pilot Plant, with linear dimensions ~ 2/3 the linear dimensions of a commercial fusion power plant, as the needed bridge. As we examine the R&D needs for such a system we find significant synergies between the needs for the development of magnetic and inertial fusion energy