Accelerators for heavy ion fusion

Large fusion devices will almost certainly produce net energy. However, a successful commercial fusion energy system must also satisfy important engineering and economic constraints. Inertial confinement fusion power plants driven by multi-stage, heavy-ion accelerator appear capable of meeting these constraints. The reasons behind this promising outlook for heavy-ion fusion are given in this report. This report is based on the transcript of a talk presented at the Symposium on Lasers and Particle Beams for Fusion and Strategic Defense at the University of Rochester on April 17-19, 1985