[en] Spheromaks are compact toroid plasmas with internal toroidal fields and a coil structure which does not link the plasma. By taking advantage of this topology in a reactor design, one can envision translation and other manoeuvring of the plasma. The self-generated toroidal field in a typical spheromak is used to confine the plasma. Temperatures exceeding the low-Z radiation barrier have now been achieved and emphasis has shifted to the transport of spheromaks and more reactor-relevant values for plasma current, density and collisionality. Several different formation schemes have been employed for producing spheromak plasmas, but all experiments study the MHD stability of the configuration. Observations indicate that the plasma tends to relax into a state near the Taylor minimum energy state, independent of the formation process. Several techniques have been used to stabilize the plasma against the most dangerous global modes. Present calculations of the equilibrium and gross MHD properties are in good agreement with experiment. Confinement time scaling remains an important topic for the next experiments. Future research will also investigate auxiliary heating via adiabatic compression, beams, and radio-frequencies. While the spheromak is an attractive fusion reactor concept, it is at an early stage of development. This paper concludes with a brief description of a conceptual design for a small reactor based on an inductive spheromak formation technique. (author)