Status of inertial fusion and prospects for practical power plants

We have produced a series of reactor designs to meet the variety of driver-target combinations that could possibly result from the inertial-confinement fusion program. In this paper we discuss four reactor designs, the goals of which are low cost; a low probability of risk to the public, the plant employees, and the utility investment; and a minimal environmental impact under normal plant operation. HYLIFE is a 1.5 Hz lithium-cooled reactor. In the 5 Hz Pulse Star and Cascade reactors, fusion energy is absorbed in a PbLi pool and in Li2O particles, respectively. Sunburst, a 0.5 Hz lithium-cooled reactor, directly converts over 40% of the fusion energy to electricity using a pulsed magnetic field. (orig.)