Microsoft word - info fusion 1 (en) efda version

EFDAEuropean Fusion
Development Agreement
Issue 2000/1
I N FORM AT I ON F U SI ON
Fusion energy from the sun
Fusion Energy:
has warmed the earth for
billions of years. Today, sci-
An Option for the Future
entists and engineers have
achieved the first demonstra-
tions of a process for releas-
ing fusion energy similar that
which takes place in the sun.
This opens up the prospect of
a virtually unlimited resource
for the generation of electri-
cal power using fuels which
are readily available world-
“solar furnace” is so huge, overallan enormous amount of power is The sun’s fusion energy which warms
the earth is the origin of all renewable
energies. Fusion R&D aims at providing
on earth a safe, environmentally friendly
energy source.
Fusion on earth
Issue 2000/1
million tonnes of fuel for a coal-fired power station. All the elec- Magnetic confinement
given sufficient kinetic energy toovercome their mutual electrostatic Progress of research
JET (near Oxford) is operated jointly by
Europe. It is the largest existing and
most powerful fusion experiment world-
wide. In 1997 JET achieved the produc-
tion of 16 MW fusion power.
"torus"), since this topology lends 150 million degrees & 1.5 metres
ence of 150 million degrees can bemaintained with insulation just one Nuclear fusion can be realised also by another scheme in which a pellet of a few mm diame- ter, filled with fusion fuel, is irradiated by high power lasers or atomic beams. The pellet iscompressed and strongly heated in its centre so that fusion reactions are initiated. The pellet then explodes during further heating by the fusion burn. About 10 – 20 pellets would have to be irradiated per second. This method is called “inertial confinement” since the fuel is con- fined only as long as its own inertia inhibits the thermal explosion which is for a billionth of Issue 2000/1
transforming some of it into tritium.
Cut-away model of the International
Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
(ITER) with 6.2 m radius and a pro-
jected fusion power of 500 MW. Inside
the D-shaped superconducting coils the
vertically elongated plasma doughnut
can be seen.
Inherent safety aspects
Materials and waste
operation is injected into the burner.
and activation of the wall materials.
Issue 2000/1
Relative comparison of the radiotoxicity
of coal ash and fusion waste according
to two models with conservative and
more optimistic assumptions on the pro-
gress in materials development for fu-
sion. Horizontal axis: years after shut
down of the power station.
which requires a sustained longterm effort on a large scale, and The future
mental assessment of fusion), European Fusion Programme Evaluation, Euro- “core” of a fusion power station.
Fusion, A Voyage through the PlasmaUniverse, H. Wilhelmsson, Inst. of Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion, J.
Ongena, G. van Oost, Ph. Mertens, J.
EFDA on behalf of the EFDA partners. This brochure orparts thereof must not be reproduced without the permission of EFDA or the editor. Figures: EFDA partners and NASA(p.1). The EFDA partners are the Associates of the European European
Neither EFDA, the Associates nor anyone acting on their
behalf is responsible for any damage resulting from the
use of information contained in this publication.
K. Lackner, editor, EFDA Close Support Unit, Garching
c/o Max-Planck-Institute for Plasma Physics (Association
Euratom-IPP) Boltzmannstrasse 2, D-85748, Garching,
Development
Germany.
Tel: +49 89 3299-4201, Fax: +49 89 3299-4197
Agreement
Sophisticated computer technologyand advanced numerical techniques World Wide Web: http://efda.ipp.mpg.de

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