Research Needs for Magnetic Fusion Energy Sciences

Program Document · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2009

OSTI ID:1414378

Neilson, Hutch

Nuclear fusion — the process that powers the sun — offers an environmentally benign, intrinsically safe energy source with an abundant supply of low-cost fuel. It is the focus of an international research program, including the ITER fusion collaboration, which involves seven parties representing half the world’s population. The realization of fusion power would change the economics and ecology of energy production as profoundly as petroleum exploitation did two centuries ago. The 21st century finds fusion research in a transformed landscape. The worldwide fusion community broadly agrees that the science has advanced to the point where an aggressive action plan, aimed at the remaining barriers to practical fusion energy, is warranted. At the same time, and largely because of its scientific advance, the program faces new challenges; above all it is challenged to demonstrate the timeliness of its promised benefits. In response to this changed landscape, the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES) in the US Department of Energy commissioned a number of community-based studies of the key scientific and technical foci of magnetic fusion research. The Research Needs Workshop (ReNeW) for Magnetic Fusion Energy Sciences is a capstone to these studies. In the context of magnetic fusion energy, ReNeW surveyed the issues identified in previous studies, and used them as a starting point to define and characterize the research activities that the advance of fusion as a practical energy source will require. Thus, ReNeW’s task was to identify (1) the scientific and technological research frontiers of the fusion program, and, especially, (2) a set of activities that will most effectively advance those frontiers. (Note that ReNeW was not charged with developing a strategic plan or timeline for the implementation of fusion power.)

• Research Organization: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Contributing Organization: Chair: Richard Hazeltine, The University of Texas at Austin Vice-Chair: David Hill, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory OFES: Hutch Neilson, Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-09CH11466
• OSTI ID: 1414378
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English