Fusion Energy Research & Development

Approved by the IEEE-USA Board of Directors
24 June 2006

IEEE-USA endorses research and development (R&D) in fusion power aimed at deriving the knowledge base to exploit fusion as a virtually inexhaustible, environmentally attractive and economical power source for electric power generation and other industrial processes, such as hydrogen generation.

IEEE-USA supports fusion as a component of a broad R&D program in energy technologies targeted at reducing environmental impacts of increasing worldwide energy use, while assuring an adequate, reliable and economical electric energy supply.

World population growth and the rising standard of living in developing countries increase strain on the energy supply and the impact of energy consumption. Political, economic, and environmental consequences of energy use patterns are vast on a global scale. The challenge ahead is to supply an increased worldwide demand, while restricting carbon emissions and conserving the dwindling supply of fossil fuels. This challenge is increasingly recognized as a global one requiring cooperation among nations to develop breakthrough solutions. Offering a long-term solution, fusion research also requires a long-term commitment of resources that fits naturally into the framework of international cooperation.

IEEE-USA believes it is important for the United States to continue to participate in the worldwide fusion research program. It must also make significant contributions as a partner in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), while at the same time maintaining its complementary domestic program at a healthy and vigorous level. The US must also understand what safeguards--including oversight, controls, and monitoring-- are necessary for this technology and its required materials. A well-balanced combination of international and domestic efforts is viewed as the most cost-effective means to advance the program and US interests.

IEEE-USA recognizes the long-term nature of the fusion R&D program and fusion energy’s potential environmental advantages, and the need for stable government commitment to long-term development; accordingly IEEE-USA supports a fusion program that includes:

• Developing a scientific and technological basis for safe, economic and environmentally sound use of fusion energy
   

• Studying burning plasma science, including both experiments on relevant domestic and international machines and participation in the design, construction and research operations of an international burning plasma facility
   

• Developing fusion technology including enabling technologies, superconducting magnets and advanced materials, especially low-activation first-wall materials. The requirements of future fusion power plants in terms of safety, reliability, environmental impact and economic viability should guide such development
   

• Advancing plasma and fusion science and engineering in pursuit of national science and technology goals
   

• Continuing international cooperation in performing fusion research while stressing the importance of a strong and stable domestic program to maintain essential capabilities and to assure international competitiveness.

This statement was developed by the Energy Policy Committee of the IEEE-United States of America (IEEE-USA) and represents the considered judgment of a group of U.S. IEEE members with expertise in the subject field IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., created in 1973 to advance the public good and promote the careers and public policy interests of the more than 220,000 electrical, electronics, computer and software engineers who are U.S. members of the IEEE. The positions taken by IEEE-USA do not necessarily reflect the views of IEEE or its other organizational units.

IEEE-USA, 2001 L Street, N.W., Suite 700, Washington, DC 20036-5104
(O) +1.202.785.0017  +  (F) +1.202.785.0835 + (Email) ieeeusa@ieee.org + (Web) www.ieeeusa.org

BACKGROUND

Fusion Energy Overview

In the fusion process, nuclei of light atoms are fused together to form a new set of particles slightly less in combined mass. The “missing” mass is converted into energy, as predicted by Einstein’s famous formula, E=mc2. The most accessible reaction involves fusing deuterium (D) and tritium (T) ions, which releases 17.6Mev in the form of a neutron at 14.1Mev and a helium ion (alpha particle) at 3.5Mev, with an ~ 500energy gain. For power production, the challenge is to create a “burning plasma,” where enough ions are confined at sufficient density and temperature such that the heat from the alpha particles can maintain the plasma without significant auxiliary heating power.

The potential advantages of fusion power include:

• Universally available and virtually inexhaustible fuel

• Negligible atmospheric emissions, in contrast to C02 and acid emission from burning fossil fuels

• Limited impacts on ecological and geophysical processes

• Radiological hazards and proliferation risks significantly less than with nuclear fission power.

The potential disadvantages of fusion power include:

• A long development period involving large and expensive facilities, will be required prior to a demonstration fusion power plant

• Relatively large unit sizes of fusion power plants (~1000 mw with present concepts and possibly ~500 mw with more advanced concepts)

• Relatively complex components and systems compared to conventional power-generating facilities

• Radioactivity, albeit with significantly less long-term activity and shorter half-lives than fission power.

The thermonuclear fusion energy program is being conducted along two parallel paths -- magnetic and inertial fusion energy:

• Magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) uses strong magnetic fields to confine the reacting particles for periods of times exceeding seconds. MCF is an unclassified program benefiting from extensive international collaboration.
   

• Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) uses focused, high-power sources (lasers and particle beams) to compress and heat small target pellets. It confines the reacting mixture by its own inertia for very brief times (about a billionth of a second). Aspects of DOE's ICF program relating to nuclear weapons are classified, but much of ICF relating to inertial fusion energy was declassified by DOE in December 1993.

Highlights of Fusion Research

A major step was achieved in the early 1990s when fusion devices achieved Q ~ 1 conditions referred to as “breakeven,” where the fusion power production reached the level of heating power input. Three devices entered this domain, namely the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) in Princeton, NJ; the Joint European Torus (JET) in England; and the Tokamak 60m3 (JT-60) in Japan. For example, the TFTR succeeded in producing controlled D-T reactions yielding pulses of ~ 10mw of fusion power lasting for ~ 1 second at a time. The TFTR, JET and JT-60 machines were the result of a half-billion dollars in investments made by each of the host countries in the late 70s, as public interest in energy R&D reached a peak. The next major step in the program is to enter the burning plasma regime where the alpha particle power significantly exceeds the auxiliary power. Since the alpha energy is roughly 1/5 of the energy released per D-T reaction, and since Q is defined as the ratio of fusion power to heating power, the alpha particle heating becomes dominant when Q>5.

Numerous distinguished committees, including the National Research Council’s Burning Plasma Assessment Committee (NRCPBAC), have deliberated with regard to the readiness of the fusion community to take the next step and have concluded:

“The scientific and technological case for adding a burning plasma experiment to the U.S. fusion science program is clear. There is now high confidence in the readiness to proceed to the burning plasma step because of the progress made in fusion science and fusion technology."  [“Burning Plasma, Bringing a Star to Earth,” Report of the Burning Plasma Assessment Committee, Board of Physics and Astronomy, Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, National Research Council of the National Academies, 2004; THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS, 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001.]

The design and construction of a burning plasma fusion machine is a major engineering and scientific challenge. The device itself will be of the same scale as a large electric power generating station with a cost of approximately five billion dollars. The scale of such an endeavor and the tradition of collaboration between nations in fusion research, along with the vital implications for the future of mankind, all suggest an international project.

Indeed, the next major fusion project on the horizon is ITER, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. ITER was born as an initiative at the 1985 Geneva Summit between the United States and the Soviet Union. President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev began a process that led to collaboration between the European Union, Japan, Russia (initially the Soviet Union) and the United States to design and carry out supporting R&D for ITER, whose programmatic objective is “to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy for peaceful purposes.”

From the beginning of the formal collaboration in 1988 through the completion of the initial six-year agreement for ITER Engineering Design Activities (EDA), the United States was an equal party involved in the ITER effort, carrying out significant tasks in design and supporting R&D. However, in 1998, with support for “big science” waning, and concerns about ITER’s future, Congress directed the DOE to conduct an orderly closeout of its ITER activities. DOE completed this closeout during FY 1999. Meanwhile, the European, Japanese, and Russian parties continued to develop a more cost-effective design.

In January 2003, President George W. Bush committed the United States to re-join ITER negotiations, noting that "the results of ITER will advance the effort to produce clean, safe, renewable and commercially available fusion energy by the middle of this century. Commercialization of fusion has the potential to dramatically improve America’s energy security, while significantly reducing air pollution and emissions of greenhouse gases.”

Momentum has been building since the United States announced that it would re-join the project, and the ITER parties have negotiated an understanding on sharing ITER’s cost on allocating responsibility for hardware procurements, and on most of the terms and conditions of a formal agreement. Additional developments include adding China and Korea to the roster of participating nations, and agreement by consensus of the parties to construct ITER in Cadarache, France. However, the governments of the various countries must still appropriate funds for actual construction before the project can move forward.

IEEE-USA's Fusion Energy Principles

Fusion policy recommendations should be developed in the context of the following principles:

As the leading industrial and energy-consuming nation in the world, the United States must invest in energy science and technology research and development to ensure the stability and continued growth of the U.S. economy and standard of living:

• Energy policy should be based on a long-range national energy plan, and should achieve a prudent balance between international collaboration (cost-sharing) and a strong domestic program (to ensure national competence and competitiveness).

• Fusion should be developed as an element within a portfolio of long-term energy technologies because of fusion's potential as an inexhaustible and environmentally attractive energy source.

• Due to the long-term nature of the fusion R&D program, and fusion energy's significant environmental advantages, stable government commitment to the long-term development of fusion power is essential to maintain international alliances.

• U.S. industry should be involved in appropriate roles such that it is prepared to supply, deploy, and operate fusion power components, systems and facilities in the future.

• While international collaboration is an important element of the path forward, a strong, complementary domestic program is essential to ensure that the United States is a strong international partner – one that is competitive in the design and construction of future fusion power systems.

• The national laboratories should transfer technology, but will have strong roles for the foreseeable future.

• The United States should ensure continuing funding for university-based research to provide the intellectual stimulus, objective criticism, and innovative thinking that universities foster, and to train future scientists and engineers.

IEEE-USA's Fusion Energy Recommendations

(1) The present barriers to the design of an attractive fusion configuration include both science and technology, so programs in fusion science, fusion technology, and concept innovation are required. Both domestic and international facilities can contribute to this pursuit. Therefore, IEEE-USA makes the following statement:

IEEE-USA supports a fusion program that includes development of fusion science, technology and magnetic confinement innovations and inertial fusion energy as the central themes of its domestic program and as a theme of the international collaboration program.

(2) In the magnetic fusion program, the science and technology of burning plasmas are key elements in designing a fusion reactor and are a major focus of the world magnetic fusion program. The science elements include self-heating the plasma by the fusion products; the effects of the feedback between the self-heated plasma and the transport and stability of the system; and the physics of plasmas at the scale of a reactor. Limited studies of the physics of burning plasmas can be conducted on existing machines. The Joint European Torus is the only existing facility capable of utilizing the most promising fusion fuels, deuterium and tritium; and several existing domestic and international tokamaks can study some of the physics of energetic particle confinement and stability. However, a more complete study of the physics of burning plasmas and the integration of physics and technology can best be accomplished via international collaborations on an integrated device and a set of smaller devices focused on more restricted sets of objectives. Therefore, IEEE-USA makes the following statement:

IEEE-USA supports a magnetic fusion program that includes study of burning plasma science, including both experiments on relevant existing domestic and international machines and participation in an international burning plasma facility.

(3) Technological barriers must be overcome before an attractive fusion reactor can be built; this requirement is true in both the magnetic and inertial fusion programs. In the magnetic program, superconducting magnets will likely be required to reduce the recirculation power; heating and current drive systems must be improved to support more precise control of the plasma profiles; low-activation structural materials must be developed to reduce the level of radioactive waste; blanket systems must be developed to convert the neutron power to a more usable form; and plasma-facing materials must be improved to handle the exhaust power. In the inertial program, "drivers" such as particle beams and advanced lasers must be developed to provide repetitive compressions of the targets; plasma-facing materials and configurations must be improved to handle the exhaust power; and low-activation materials would reduce radioactive waste. The integrated fusion power plant must be safe, reliable, environmentally benign and economical. Therefore, IEEE-USA makes the following statement:

IEEE-USA supports a fusion program that includes developing fusion technologies and advanced materials guided by design studies of future power plants that address the requirements to be satisfied so that fusion becomes an attractive power source.

(4) The tools for optimizing the "core" of a magnetic fusion plasma are based on understanding the transport of energy and particles in plasmas from one electron volt (about 10,000 degrees centigrade) to 20,000 electron volts (about 200,000,000 degrees centigrade); of the stability of magnetically-contained plasmas; of interactions of such plasmas with radio waves and particle beams; and of plasma interactions with solid material walls. Inertial confinement fusion tools involve understanding transport, stability and interactions between very high-density plasmas (up to around 1,000 times solid density) and high-intensity laser beams and intense, high-energy particle beams. These scientific topics are not addressed adequately in any other governmental program; hence, the magnetic and inertial fusion programs should be the "stewards" of this branch of science. Therefore, IEEE-USA makes the following statement:

IEEE-USA supports a fusion program that includes advancing plasma and fusion science and engineering in pursuit of national science and technology goals.

(5) Success of international collaboration demands that the partners share the goals and benefits from the success of joint programs, and bring value to the collaboration. To be a competitive and effective international partner, the United States must support a strong domestic fusion science and technology program in a stable manner; provide strong capabilities to participate effectively in international collaborations; and enable itself to be competitive. Therefore, IEEE-USA makes the following statement:

IEEE-USA supports a fusion program that includes participation in ITER, but stresses the importance of a strong and stable domestic program to maintain essential national physics and engineering capabilities and to assure international competitiveness.
 

| Top of Page | Position Statements | Policy Forum | IEEE-USA |

Last Updated: 27 June 2006
Staff Contact: Bill Williams

 Copyright © 2006 The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
Permission to copy granted for non-commercial uses with appropriate attribution.