Critique; Fusion Reactors

verochio

Hi there.

I'm doing an critical essay (~ 5k words) on Fusion Reactors and whether they will be the energy source of the next millenium.

I'm struggling to get to grips with the main scientific problems and proposed solutions of fusion right now. I can find many books on the history of fusion, and lots of papers on very specific things, but I'm struggling to find an idea of the current scientific "big picture" that isn't aimed at the general public or at the established plasma physicist.

Could anybody perhaps suggest a few links or places to look that might get me going.

Thanks very much

Clausius2

Try www.iter.org

I would tell you the main problem as far as I know is the cooling of the first wall in contact with plasma, and the possible fission of the surrounding materials exposed at neutronic radiation being formed as a reaction product.
The first wall is at some thousands of temperature grades, so there is a lot of researching about how to cool the material and how to find a more heat resistant material. In the case of the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) the use of Litium as a feeder layer could cause some dangers like explosion in being vaporized and in contact with Oxygen.