Technology solutions to capture this tritium during operation are in development.Fusion scientists realized some time ago that existing tokamaks are simply not large or powerful enough to reach burning plasma conditions. Construction of SPARC is slated to begin soon. Vastly more is understood about the physics of fusion energy than in Eddington’s day, yet commercial electricity generation from fusion still remains a goal rather than a reality. At least a dozen private start-up companies have begun investigating alternative approaches to fusion energy over the past decade (see sidebar). )These nuclear binding forces are far stronger than the forces that hold electrons in orbit around a nucleus and influence the energy of chemical processes. ITER (originally the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ) is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering megaproject, which will be the world's largest magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment. Manned space capsules were routinely sent into space, a revolutionary supersonic commercial airliner was nearing the prototype stage, the computer mouse had just been invented, and the official decision had been taken to build a cross-Channel tunnel. The fusion industry has begun engaging with the NRC on what such a regulatory approach would look like, but no official rulemaking has begun, nor is it likely to until the technology of fusion power plants is considerably clearer. POWER Magazine readers get exclusive power industry news–every business day.A spin-off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT’s) Plasma Science and Fusion Center, CFS is pursuing a fairly conventional tokamak approach, but leveraging high-technology advances that came too recently to be incorporated into ITER. Defense Daily subscriber and registered users, please log in here to access the content.We are first in your inbox with the most important news in the industry―keeping you smarter and one-step ahead in this ever-changing and competitive market.We are first in your inbox with the most important news in the industry―keeping you smarter and one-step ahead in this ever-changing and competitive market.When British physicist Arthur Stanley Eddington first proposed in the 1920s that the sun and stars were powered by the fusion of hydrogen into helium, his idea sparked a rush of research and speculation into the possibility of bringing this energy source to earth. ET) , to start a free trial, get pricing information, order a reprint, or post an article link on your website. The risk of accidents with a fusion plant is very limited—if containment is lost, the fusion reaction simply stops. This is why fusion fuels offer vastly higher energy density than chemical methods—about a million times denser than fossil fuels.A variety of fusion reactions are possible. Fusion power plants will need to achieve Q values well above 10 to be economic.The many potential benefits of fusion as an energy source are the reason it has long been viewed as an ideal method of generation. “Japan’s road map and action plan to promote R&D for a fusion DEMO reactor” decided in 2017 requires that the material irradiation data should be acquired for a decision in the 2030s to start construction of a fusion DEMO reactor [3]. The first of six modules that will comprise the central solenoid has finished testing and is being shipped to France this summer.In addition, ITER will serve as a test bed for a number of critical fusion technologies, including tritium breeding, plasma control, advanced diagnostics, and disruption mitigation. The pathway to DEMO has been laid out in a roadmap produced by EUROfusion, the EU’s fusion organization, but the location, construction start, and other details remain to be determined. Fortunately, the fusion reaction itself offers a potential means to do so.Placing a lithium blanket around the tokamak would generate tritium (and further heat) as the fusion neutrons are captured by the lithium nuclei and spontaneously transition to tritium.