Jason Parisi - The Future of Fusion Energy (Popular Science)

Published by

World Scientific Publishing Europe Ltd.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Parisi, Jason, author. | Ball, Justin (Justin Richard), author.

Title: The future of fusion energy / by Jason Parisi (University of Oxford, United Kingdom),

Justin Ball (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland).

Description: New Jersey : World Scientific, 2018. |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018016230 | ISBN 9781786345424 (hc : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Nuclear fusion. | Renewable energy sources. | Power resources.

Classification: LCC QC791 .P37 2018 | DDC 539.7/64--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018016230

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Copyright 2019 by World Scientific Publishing Europe Ltd.

All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.

For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to photocopy is not required from the publisher.

For any available supplementary material, please visit

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Desk Editors: Dr. Sree Meenakshi Sajani/Jennifer Brough/Shi Ying Koe

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Printed in Singapore

To fusioneers past, present, and future

The locations of some of the worlds most significant magnetic fusion devices.

Some of the worlds most significant magnetic fusion devices.

More of the worlds most significant magnetic fusion devices.

As two young scientists researching nuclear fusion, we see a massive disparity between the current state of the field and the descriptions available to the public. Our goal in writing this book is to bridge that gap to provide you with the basics of fusion and the ability to judge its future prospects for yourself. This is not a textbook, but it still explains matters in sufficient technical detail to reveal the logic that shapes research and development. For the most part, this can be done without mathematics, which we hope will make this book accessible to a multitude of audiences: scientists, policymakers, and laypeople alike. Basically, anyone who wants to learn more about the triumphs and challenges of fusion. However, we do not claim that understanding nuclear fusion is easy fusion has yet to deliver electricity to the grid precisely because there are so many complicated and counterintuitive things to understand! We hope that you will stick with it and have some fun in the process.

Despite popular conception, fusion science and technology has made remarkable progress, even compared to other fast-moving fields. It is not a pie-in-the-sky dream, but a multi-faceted scientific and technological challenge that will yield to sufficient brainpower. Yet, we acknowledge that there is a long way to go before fusion will be providing commercial electricity to the grid. This book will clarify the main sticking points.

As a practical note, throughout this book you will find Tech Boxes that serve as brief asides to the main text. The book is written to be understandable without them, but they are a good starting point if you want more technical details on a particular topic. Additionally, there are several short Basics Boxes that cover fundamental material such as units and mathematical notation. If you already know this material, then feel free to skip them.

Finally, in a popular science book on a field as extensive as fusion energy, we could not fit in every important topic. There are many fascinating areas that we have entirely skipped or left grossly over-simplified. This is particularly true for the history of fusion research as there are already several excellent popular works available. Instead, we have set our sights forward, focusing on how current technology and the laws of physics motivate the global effort to develop a commercial fusion power plant. Enjoy!

Jason and Justin

Oxford, UK

April 2018

Justin Ball is a post-doctoral researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, where his research focuses on plasma shaping in tokamaks. He holds a Masters in Nuclear Engineering from MIT and a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Oxford. Previously, he has worked at the Perry Nuclear Power Plant, Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, and Lawerence Livermore National Laboratory.

Jason Parisi is a PhD student at the University of Oxford, where his research focuses on turbulence in the edge of fusion plasmas. Jason has previously done plasma physics research at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Tsinghua University, and the University of Science and Technology of China. Jason obtained his undergraduate degree from Yale University.

@JB_Fusion

@JFP_Fusioneer

As with fusion research in general, this book was an international collaboration not simply a product made by its authors. A large number of talented and kind people from all over the world enabled it, both directly and indirectly. To this end, we would like to thank Felix Parra, Stephan Brunner, Ian Hutchinson, Rob Goldston, Michael Barnes, Alex Schekochihin, Anne White, Steve Cowley, Colin Roach, Dennis Whyte, Greg Hammett, and Peter Catto for providing the authors with a world-class education. We are also grateful to Rob Goldston, Bill Spears, Mark Henderson, Marcelo Baquero-Ruiz, Paola Paruta, Ambrogio Fasoli, Holger Reimerdes, Brandon Sorbom, Kim Fuellenbach, Pedro Molina Cabrera, Stephan Brunner, Anna Teplukhina, and Daniel Kammen for reading through various chapters and spotting ALL of our embarrassing mistakes. We are particularly indebted to Aaron Scheinberg and Hugo de Oliveira for taking the book we had written and, through their comprehensive feedback, developing it into what you see today. Lastly, thanks to the entire Ball family for asking questions until our unintelligible technobabble became understandable English.