Prospects for inertial fusion energy - A 1994 perspective

The long-term objective of harnessing inertial fusion energy is to produce commercial electricity. The first and most essential step in reaching this goal is to understand the character of laboratory ignition, burn, and gain. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is designed to achieve this understanding. This will make it possible to tap into the most important energy source in the universe. In January 1993 the United States Secretary of Energy approved the statement of mission need for the NIF and authorized proceeding with a conceptual design. The status of the NIF is discussed. In addition to the NIF's main goal of laboratory ignition it will provide other information critical to the inertial fusion energy concept; experience in target production and positioning, driver beam protection, burn containment performance, and the response of surfaces and materials to fusion products and debris. Current plans call for an ignition demonstration about the year 2005. While cooperating towards achieving an understanding of the energy implications of the NIF, the Office of Fusion Energy plans to develop on a comparable timescale the physics basis for a heavy-ion driver that has desirable characteristics for energy applications. The driver physics issues will be addressed sequentially beginning with the Elise facility, an electric-focus linear induction accelerator. The paper outlines the major challenges and specific issues that can be addressed in cooperation between the inertial fusion and the fusion energy programs. The U.S. goal is to develop an inertial fusion energy demonstration power plant by about 2025. (author)