Search for the Ultimate Energy Source: A History of the U.S. Fusion Energy Program

269 Pages·2013·3.503 MB·English

by  Stephen O. Dean

Green Energy and Technology
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Stephen O. Dean
Search for the Ultimate
Energy Source
A History of the U.S. Fusion
Energy Program
Stephen O. Dean
Fusion Power Associates
Gaithersburg , MD, USA
[email protected]
ISSN 1865-3529 ISSN 1865-3537 (electronic)
ISBN 978-1-4614-6036-7 ISBN 978-1-4614-6037-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-6037-4
Springer New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012952107
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I dedicate this book to my children, Stephen,
Richard and Marcy (Rossi); to my
grandchildren, Graham, Nicolas (Rossi),
Spencer, Laura (Rossi), Claire and Eliza;
and to my descendants, yet unborn.

Prologue
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
–Chinese Proverb
In the summer of 1958, after completing my sophomore year as a physics major at
Boston College, I received in the mail my monthly book selection from the Library
of Science. It was Project Sherwood—The U. S. Program in Controlled Fusion, by
Amasa S. Bishop [1]. It described a previously highly classi fi ed research program
that had begun in the USA in 1951 under the auspices of the US Atomic Energy
Commission (AEC). Bishop had managed the program for the commission during
much of the 1950s.
In the Introduction, Bishop noted that “the practical resources of conventional
fuels are dwindling at an alarming rate” and says it is “highly signi fi cant, and indeed
fortunate, that a vast new source of energy looms on the horizon—the energy of
nuclear fusion.” He goes on to state, “If present efforts are successful, man will have
found the ultimate solution to one of his most pressing problems. He will have devel-
oped a new and practical source of energy which will meet his needs, not for just the
next hundreds or thousands of years, but for as far into the future as he can see.”
Fusion is by far the dominant energy source in the universe. It is the source of
light and heat in our Sun and the billions of stars that populate the heavens. On
planet Earth, its energy has been tapped directly in the form of the hydrogen bomb,
by far the most powerful explosive known to man. As the source of light and heat
from the Sun, it is also the source of energy that permits life to exist on Earth. It is
only natural, therefore, that scientists should seek ways to produce fusion energy on
Earth in a form that could provide a long-term solution to increasing energy
demand.
The reasons for pursuing fusion are as true today as they were in the beginning:
it would provide a universally available, essentially inexhaustible, ef fi cient fuel
resource; it would provide an option to meet growing global energy demand; it
would provide an energy source with attractive safety and environmental character-
istics; and it would spawn new technologies for a variety of applications.
Fusion has sometimes been called “The Holy Grail” of energy, and its research-
ers likened to knights on a quest. Perhaps because of this, or perhaps it was just
vii
viii Prologue
coincidence, the secret fusion research project in the USA during the 1950s was
given the label “Project Sherwood.” One of the early fusion scientists, Jim Tuck of
Los Alamos, was often referred to as “Friar Tuck of Sherwood Forest.” He was one
of many colorful pioneers of the early fusion effort.
Critics of fusion, of which there have been many, laugh that the only thing sure
about fusion is that it is always 20, 30, or 50 years away. Advocates, who fortunately
have always outnumbered critics, often call fusion the “ultimate energy source.”
After reading Bishop’s book, I was hooked. For a young man trying to decide on
a career path among the many areas of physics and technology, the choice seemed
clear to me. This was a new area of science and technology with great potential to
produce important societal bene fi ts during one’s working career. I made that choice
and have spent the last 50-plus years pursuing that dream. After receiving a B.S. in
Physics from Boston College in 1960, I went to the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, receiving an S.M. degree in Nuclear Engineering in 1962 under an
AEC Fellowship. I then landed a job with the small fusion program management
team at AEC, where I spent the next 6 years while simultaneously pursuing a Ph.D.
in Physics at the University of Maryland. Those years are described in Chap. 3 of
this book.
It turned out that the United Kingdom (UK) and the Soviet Union (USSR) had
also independently begun research to harness this energy process of the Sun. A suc-
cess of sorts came quickly in the form of the hydrogen bomb, but producing con-
trolled thermonuclear reactions, or nuclear fusion as it is now more commonly
called, remained elusive. The high-temperature, ionized, hydrogen gas (called
“plasma”) turned out to be much more dif fi cult to contain in various “magnetic
bottles” than scientists originally hoped. Consequently, at the Second United Nations
Geneva Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in 1958, the USA, the
UK, and the USSR declassi fi ed their research. Bishop’s book was commissioned by
the AEC to coincide with this conference.
In this book, I provide a fusion concept primer, a personal perspective on the his-
tory of fusion research as I participated in it (others may have a different perspective),
and look at the energy “problem” and how and when fusion might contribute to its
solution. I address the questions: what is fusion, why has it always seemed just out of
reach, will it succeed, and can it rightly be called “the ultimate energy source”?
Gaithersburg, MD, USA Stephen O. Dean
Acronyms
AEC US Atomic Energy Commission
ANS American Nuclear Society
CTR Controlled Thermonuclear Research
DCTR Division of Controlled Thermonuclear Research
DOE US Department of Energy
EPRI Electric Power Research Institute
ERAB DOE Energy Research Advisory Board
ERDA US Energy Research and Development Administration
EU European Union
FEAC US Fusion Energy Advisory Committee
FESAC US Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee
FPA Fusion Power Associates
FPAC DOE Fusion Policy Advisory Committee
IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency
ICF Inertial con fi nement fusion (aimed primarily at weapons physics)
IFE Inertial fusion energy (aimed at energy applications)
IFRC International Fusion Research Council
JET Joint European Torus
LANL Los Alamos National Laboratory
LBNL Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
LMF Laboratory Microfusion Facility
ITER International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
MFAC US Magnetic Fusion Advisory Committee
NIF National Ignition Facility
NNSA National Nuclear Security Administration (a part of DOE)
OFE Of fi ce of Fusion Energy
OFES Of fi ce of Fusion Energy Sciences
OMB Offi ce of Management and Budget
ORMAK Oak Ridge tokamak
ORNL Oak Ridge National Laboratory
PLT Princeton Large Torus
ix
x Acronyms
PPPL Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory
SEAB DOE Secretary of Energy Advisory Board
TAERF Texas Atomic Energy Research Foundation
TFTR Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor
TPX Tokamak Physics Experiment