Nuclear Fusion: Present State and Future Prospects

Abstract

The peaceful use of nuclear fusion appears to be one of the most ambitious project that science is pursuing during the second half of our century. Fusion power would provide a lasting solution to the increasing need for energy by our planet inhabitants which are being seriously worried by the limited supply of coal and oil and by the pollution resulting from their use. Compared with power from nuclear fission already in operation at an economical level, fusion power would be safer and would have an abundant and cheap supply of fuel easily accessible in water in the form of deuterium. The main radioactive products would be tritium, which is handled locally and returned to the system to be burned, and the structures around the reactor which could become activated under neutron bom-bardment. The problem requires a very careful project of the reactor, but it could be solved in such a way that no danger of dispersion of radioactivity outside the plant should occur.

These lectures have been prepared in collaborations with R.Pozzoli and E.Sindoni.