Plasma Confinement:

Inertial Confinement:

Magnetic Confinement:
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
• A small fuel pellet is compressed to very high density
by an intense pulse of energy

• Small pellets with radius less than 5 mm (It is

supposed to contain the energy equivalent of a barrel
of oil) are compressed by striking it symmetrically
by intense laser beams or high energy ion beamer
(Fig. a)

• An inward directed shockwave produces a tremendous

amount of compressive force and a rapid temperature
rise on the material inside resulting in fusion.
 Inertial Confinement
inertial confinement fusion
2.3 mm involves compressing a small
fuel pellet to very high density
by an intense pulse of laser
energy.

10 mm

"We got more fusion energy out of the DT fuel than we put in to the DT fuel.“ says Livermore physicist Omar Hurricane
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/high-powered-lasers-deliver-fusion-energy-breakthrough/
• The fuel pellet itself is a perfectly spherical capsule of plastic, roughly two
millimeters in diameter and precisely shaped (at a cost of roughly $1 million per
pellet) to ensure the best performance.

• The deuterium and tritium are added as a gas to the hollow pellet.

• Then the sphere is cooled to 18.6 kelvins, or –254.55 degrees Celsius.

o That cooling causes the deuterium and tritium to form a layer of ice on the inside of
the sphere roughly 70 micrometers.

• Roughly 500 megajoules of electricity feed lasers that then pump out 1.9
megajoules worth of energy.

• Those lasers take a long, power-boosting trip through amplifying optics and shoot
into the hohlraum, which is made of gold and measures 5.75 millimeters in
diameter and 9.425 millimeters long.

o "It's a soup can but very small [and] made out of gold with two holes on the
end where the lasers go in," explains Livermore physicist Debbie Callahan, a
member of the fusion team.
National Ignition Facility (Lawrence Livermore), Shiva
Problems with Inertial Fusion
- All the laser beams must strike the target symmetrically and at the same time
- The inner core should reach a high density very quickly (in less than 10-8 sec)
before thermal conductivity heats the central region causing an internal
pressure build-up that opposes high compression
- The portion of the fuel that is compressed the most and heated to highest
temperature will fuse first and explode. Thus, it is possible that there may be
some fuel that may not fuse and take part in energy production.
- Another concern is that very high energy electrons in the initial laser light
absorption process will penetrate into the center of the pellet before the
arrival of the shockwave thereby causing an undesirable preheating of the
central core region resulting in an outward force effect to retard compression.

This experiments was abandoned in 2012 again restarted briefly after that.
 According the article published in Nature in 2022 (
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02022-1 ) In August
2021: In less than 4 billionths of a second, 192 laser beams delivered
1.9 megajoules of energy to the target. As the capsule collapsed,
hydrogen isotopes at the core of the pellet began to fuse into helium,
releasing a torrent of energy and creating a cascade of reactions that
ultimately released more than 1.3 megajoules of energy — around 8
times the previous record and a 1,000-fold improvement on the
earliest experiments. But the burst — essentially a miniature hydrogen
bomb — lasted only 100 trillionths of a second.
The major problem with these experiments have been the repeatability.
A CNN Article (May 12,2023. This lab achieved a stunning breakthrough on fusion energy (msn.com)
By some reason this page doesn’t exist
Magnetic Confinement:
Since a plasma comprises of charged particles - protons
(positive) and electrons (negative), powerful magnetic fields can
be used to isolate the plasma from the walls of the containment
vessel - thus enabling the plasma to be heated to temperatures
in excess of 100 million Kelvin.

Tokomak
ITER Fusion Reactor: www.iter.org
D-T reaction
30 m tall
23,000 tons
1,000,000 parts
>$20B
Expected to complete in 2027
Goals are:
- to produce 10 times as
much power as is required
for breakeven
- to produce 500 MW of
fusion power for 500 s
 The world record for fusion power in a magnetic confinement fusion device is held by the
European tokamak JET. In 1997
o JET produced 16 MW of fusion power from a total input heating power of 24 MW
(Q=0.67).
 ITER is designed to yield in its plasma a ten-fold return on power (Q=10), or 500 MW of
fusion power from 50 MW of input heating power.

o Achieve a deuterium-tritium plasma in which the fusion conditions are sustained mostly by
internal fusion heating. The confined heat from the fusion reaction will used to dominate any
other form of heating.

o ITER will not convert the heating power it produces as electricity, but—as the first of all
fusion experiments in history to produce net energy gain across the plasma—it will prepare
the way for the machines that can.

o One of the missions for the later stages of ITER operation is to demonstrate the feasibility
of producing tritium within the vacuum vessel.
Central Solenoid One module (six modules)
- 13 m tall; 1000 tons Each Module:
- 4.3 m dia, ~2.2 m height; 150 to
- Produced by VPI

14
lay
13 m

ers

2.2 m
40 layers
Vacuum Pressure Impregnation Process

Cure Cycle
Only the plasma edge can be
actually seen because the
central region is too hot to
emit visible light.
July, 2018
 ITER, World’s Biggest Nuclear Fusion Reactor, is now Halfway Complete, Dec. 11, 2017
http://compositesmanufacturingmagazine.com/2017/12/worlds-biggest-nuclear-fusion-reactor-now-halfway-complete/
Construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in
southern France, is now 50 percent complete. The machine, which features nearly 10
million parts, is widely seen as the most complex science project in history.
Fusion energy—the same process that powers the sun—potentially offers near
limitless clean energy. The energy is created by fusing two lighter atomic nuclei to
form a heavier nucleus, which requires plasma that is hotter than the sun. Scientists
have not yet been able to generate more power from the fusion reaction that takes
place than it takes to create the reactions in the first place. However, if the ITER is
successful, that will change, providing enough electricity for millions of years.
“The stakes are very high for ITER,” said Bernard Bigot, Ph.D., Director-General of ITER.
“When we prove that fusion is a viable energy source, it will eventually replace
burning fossil fuels, which are non-renewable and non-sustainable. Fusion will be
complementary with wind, solar, and other renewable energies.”
According to Daily Mail, the project’s members – China, the European Union, India,
Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States – agreed on a design that uses a
doughnut-shaped device called a tokamak, to trap hydrogen that’s been heated to
150 million degrees Celsius (270 million Fahrenheit) for long enough to allow atoms to
fuse together. The tokamak is surrounded by 18 giant magnetic coils that confine and
circulate the superheated, ionized plasma.
The magnets are supported by six carbon fiber composite rings fabricated by Spanish
company CASA Espacio. When complete, the rings will each be able to withstand
7,000 tons, as well as temperatures hotter than the sun.
“We cannot use traditional materials such as metal, which expands or contracts with
temperature and are conductors of electricity, so we have to design a special
composite material that is durable and lightweight, non-conductive and does not
change shape,” explained José Guillamón, commercial and strategy director at CASA
Espacio.
More than 80 percent of the cost of ITER, about $22 billion, is being contributed in the
form of components manufactured by the partners. The European Union is paying 45
percent of the cost, with China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, and the United States each
contributing 9 percent. All members share in ITER’s technology; they receive equal
access to the intellectual property and innovation that comes from building ITER.
According to officials close to the project, it will be ready for its first stage of operation
in December 2025, with the first power plants up and running by 2040.
Engineering Challenges with Fusion Energy
Materials resistant to extreme conditions: The intense flux of high-energy neutrons and
other particles generated during fusion reactions subject the reactor's structural materials to
extreme conditions. Finding materials capable of withstanding these conditions while
maintaining structural integrity is a top priority.
Heat exhaust management in the divertor region: One of the primary challenges in
fusion reactor design is managing the heat and particle exhaust from the plasma. In tokamaks
like ITER, this is accomplished through a component called the divertor, which extracts heat
and particles from the plasma and protects the reactor's walls from damage.

Remote handling for maintenance: Fusion reactors operate in harsh environments that are
inaccessible to human operators. As a result, maintenance and repair tasks must be performed
remotely using advanced robotic systems.

Tritium fuel cycle: Tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, is a key fuel for deuterium-tritium
(D-T) fusion reactors. However, tritium is not naturally abundant and must be produced artificially.
Additionally, tritium has a relatively short (12.3 year) half-life. Developing efficient tritium
breeding and extraction techniques is essential to sustaining fusion reactions in a practical D-T
reactor.
Efficient heat removal for electricity generation: While fusion produces intense energy,
the physical structure of tokamak fusion reactors is that of a geometric heat source, poorly
configured to efficiently remove the heat produced from the fusion reaction.
Commercial Power Plant
Roadmap to Fusion Energy:

Three phases have been identified:

Phase 1 (2014-2027): Construction and successful operation of ITER

Phase 2 (2028-2038): Using the lessons learned from ITER and

other fusion projects in the world, construct a demonstration
power plant called DEMO. Goal of DEMO will be to produce 2
– 4 GW of thermal output on a continuous basis

Phase 3 (may be by 2070): Commercial electricity production and

supply it to the grid