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Chemical Aspects of Fusion Technology
Author(s) -
Ache Hans J.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition in english
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 0570-0833
DOI - 10.1002/anie.198900013
Subject(s) - chemist , nuclear fission , nuclear power , nuclear fusion , spent nuclear fuel , engineering ethics , computer science , engineering , nuclear engineering , fission , chemistry , nuclear physics , physics , neutron , organic chemistry
Managing thermally controlled nuclear fusion will certainly be regarded one day as one of the most successful accomplishments in nuclear physics. At the same time, however, it will represent a technical achievement unparalleled in the history of science and engineering. This in turn would mean, in retrospect, that decisive contributions had to come from a number of disciplines as diverse as materials and engineering sciences and classical chemistry, and that the same collaboration will have to continue in the future in order to reach the ultimate goal, to construct a reactor capable of producing energy from almost inexhaustible source materials (fuels), such as deuterium and lithium. What is the chemist's role in this development? Similarly as in the development of fission reactors, i.e., the nuclear power plants currently in operation, chemists will have to ensure the existence of a reliable fuel cycle–starting from the availability, storage and reprocessing of the fuel through to the provision for safe storage of the waste. In this review article an attempt will be made to outline the problems associated with these tasks and the approaches to be made by the chemist in solving them.