Fusion Power Associates

Fusion Power Associates, Maryland USA http //www.fusionpower.org/... 

Agency for Advancement of Fusion Power, Inc., P. O. Box 8601 Northfield, Illinois, 60093, phone 312 446 5492 Fusion Power Associates, 2 Professional Drive, Suite 248, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, phone 301 258 0545... 

Fusion Power Associates, Gaithersburg, Maryland For data covering fusion energy. 

Fillo. J.A. and P. Lindcnfcld inrmducrinn to Nuclear Fusion Power and i/ie Design of Fusion Renders, American Association ol Physics Teachers. College Park. MD. 1984. 

This paper surveys factors relevant to material choices in ITER, briefly describing advantages and disadvantages of the various material options considered, with emphasis on the implications of the current choice on the problem of in-vessel tritium retention. Other PMI and technological issues associated with the development of robust PFCs for ITER and future fusion power reactors are dealt with elsewhere [3-6]. 

Fusion power would not have the drawbacks associated with fission power, but no commercial fusion reactor is expected before 2050. In 2005, an international consortium consisting of the European Union, Japan, USA, Russia, South Korea, India, and China announced the 10 billion ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) project, which will be built in France to show within 30 years the technical feasibility of fusion power. Proposed fusion reactors use deuterium as fuel and in current designs also lithium. Assuming a fusion energy output equal to today s global need, the lithium reserves would last 3000 years. 

The second factor relates to environmental issues. Much will depend on how dangerous will actually be global consequences of Earth pollution with mamnade extra heat, chemicals, etc., associated with traditional types of energy production. Note, that nuclear fusion, which sooner or later is anticipated to be developed, also is expected to pollute Earth with extra heat. If such pollution occurs intolerable, the development and corrunercialization of solar power pltints, which produce no extra heating of the Earth and in other respects also seem to be envirorunentally friendly, may obtain high priorities. 

In 1989, the scientific community was startled by the announcement of two chemists that they had succeeded in causing a fusion reaction to occur near room temperature. This coldfusion would have enabled the population of the Earth to be supplied with almost limitless energy without the radioactivity associated with the operation of ordinary nuclear power plants. The effect on the scientific and economic communities was profound. Unfortunately, so far, the results reported by the scientists have not been repeated or confirmed, and cold fusion is still a dream. 

In general, however, rotation and translation of the molecules are degrees of freedom which are acquired simultaneously on fusion, although sometimes only translational freedom is acquired. This happens, for example, in the case of very long molecules where rotation is prevented by steric factors (anisotropic liquids), and also when the intermolecular forces are powerful and anisotropic as for associated liquids. In these instances the freedom of rotation is achieved progressively as the temperature is raised above the melting point. This is in contrast to spherical molecules which, because of their shape and the symmetry of their force fields, begin to rotate freely in the solid state. 

The fusion reaction system appears to have the qualities we are seeking in a power source for the future. There is no shortage of the input materials, deuterium and lithium, and the power system will use them in only small quantities. As a result, an energy system based on their use will have a long life, potentially thousands of years. No by-product, such as carbon dioxide, will be placed in the environment by the fusion reactors. The radioactive waste problem from fusion reactors will be ten thousand to a million times less severe than that associated with a breeder reactor system. These factors lead to the recognition of the fusion reaction as the best possible candidate for the base load energy source to replace fossil fuels. 

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