The Star Builders

by Arthur Turrell

  22. A. Sykes et al., “First Physics Results from the MAST Mega-Amp Spherical Tokamak,” Physics of Plasmas 8 (2001): 2101–106.

  23. “Boris Johnson Jokes About UK Being on the Verge of Nuclear Fusion,” New Scientist (2019), https://www.newscientist.com/article/2218570-boris-johnson-jokes-about-uk-being-on-the-verge-of-nuclear-fusion/#ixzz66tYUwh6k; P. Ball, “A Lightbulb Moment for Nuclear Fusion?,” Guardian (2019), https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/27/nuclear-fusion-research-power-generation-iter-jet-step-carbon-neutral-2050-boris-johnson; E. Gibney, “UK Hatches Plan to Build World’s First Fusion Power Plant,” Nature (2019), https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03039-9.

  24. A. Harvey-Thompson et al., “Diagnosing and Mitigating Laser Preheat Induced Mix in MagLIF,” Physics of Plasmas 25 (2018): 112705; S. A. Slutz et al., “Scaling Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion on Z and Future Pulsed-Power Accelerators,” Physics of Plasmas 23 (2016): 022702; S. A. Slutz and R. A. Vesey, “High-Gain Magnetized Inertial Fusion,” Physical Review Letters 108 (2012): 025003; S. A. Slutz et al., “Pulsed-Power-Driven Cylindrical Liner Implosions of Laser Preheated Fuel Magnetized with an Axial Field,” Physics of Plasmas 17 (2010): 056303; M. V. Berry and A. K. Geim, “Of Flying Frogs and Levitrons,” European Journal of Physics 18 (1997): 307.

  25. T. Peckinpaugh, M. O’Neill, and A. Johns, “U.S. House of Representatives Demonstrates Support for Fusion Energy” (2020), https://www.globalpowerlawandpolicy.com/2020/09/u-s-house-of-representatives-demonstrates-support-for-fusion-energy/.

  Chapter 8: Isn’t This All a Bit Dangerous?

  1. R. Rhodes, Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995); R. G. Hewlett and F. Duncan, Atomic Shield, 1947–1952, vol. 2 (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1969).

  2. L. Engel, “Twenty-three Fishermen and a Bomb: The Voyage of the Lucky Dragon,” New York Times (1958); B. Kendall, “The H-Bomb,” Cold War: Stories from the Big Freeze, BBC Radio 4 (2016).

  3. C. Bernardini and L. Bonolis, Enrico Fermi: His Work and Legacy (London: Springer Science & Business Media, 2013).

  4. A. Robock, L. Oman, and G. L. Stenchikov, “Nuclear Winter Revisited with a Modern Climate Model and Current Nuclear Arsenals: Still Catastrophic Consequences,” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 112 (2007); M. Roser and M. Nagdy, “Nuclear Weapons,” Our World in Data (2013), https://ourworldindata.org/nuclear-weapons.

  5. A. Glaser and R. J. Goldston, “Proliferation Risks of Magnetic Fusion Energy: Clandestine Production, Covert Production and Breakout,” Nuclear Fusion 52 (2012): 043004.

  6. A. Glaser and R. J. Goldston, “Proliferation Risks of Magnetic Fusion Energy: Clandestine Production, Covert Production and Breakout,” Nuclear Fusion 52 (2012): 043004.

  7. M. Claessens, ITER: The Giant Fusion Reactor: Bringing a Sun to Earth (London: Springer Nature, 2019).

  8. R. H. Cragg, “Lord Ernest Rutherford of Nelson (1871–1937),” Royal Institute of Chemistry, Review 4 (1971): 129–45; E. Rutherford and T. Royds, “XXI. The Nature of the α Particle from Radioactive Substances,” London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science 17 (1909): 281–86; E. Rutherford, “VIII. Uranium Radiation and the Electrical Conduction Produced by It,” London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science 47 (1899): 109–63.

  9. R. Blandford, P. Simeon, and Y. Yuan, “Cosmic Ray Origins: An Introduction,” Nuclear Physics B—Proceedings Supplements 256–257 (2014): 9–22.

  10. P. De Marcillac, N. Coron, G. Dambier, J. Leblanc, and J. P. Moalic, “Experimental Detection of α-Particles from the Radioactive Decay of Natural Bismuth,” Nature 422 (2003): 876–78.

  11. W. Friedberg, K. Copeland, F. E. Duke, K. O’Brien III, and E. B. Darden Jr., “Radiation Exposure During Air Travel: Guidance Provided by the Federal Aviation Administration for Air Carrier Crews,” Health Physics 79 (2000): 591–95.

  12. Public Health England, Ionising Radiation: Dose Comparisons (UK Government, 2011), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ionising-radiation-dose-comparisons/ionising-radiation-dose-comparisons.

  13. M. Hvistendahl, “Coal Ash Is More Radioactive Than Nuclear Waste,” Scientific American 13 (2007); J. McBride, R. Moore, J. Witherspoon, and R. Blanco, Radiological Impact of Airborne Effluents of Coal-Fired and Nuclear Power Plants (Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn., USA, 1977).

  14. N. Jones, “Carbon Dating, the Archaeological Workhorse, Is Getting a Major Reboot,” Nature (2020); S. S. Schweber and S. Schweber, Nuclear Forces: The Making of the Physicist Hans Bethe (Harvard University Press, 2012); J. W. Valley et al., “Hadean Age for a Post-Magma-Ocean Zircon Confirmed by Atom-Probe Tomography,” Nature Geoscience 7 (2014): 219–23; T. Higham et al., “The Timing and Spatiotemporal Patterning of Neanderthal Disappearance,” Nature 512 (2014): 306.

  15. E. O. Lawrence, “Transmutations of Sodium by Deutons,” Physical Review 47 (1935): 17.

  16. OECD, Physics and Safety of Transmutation Systems: A Status Report (OECD, 2006).

  17. L. N. Larson, Nuclear Waste Storage Sites in the United States (Congressional Research Service, 2020), https://fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/IF11201.pdf; Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, “UK Radioactive Waste Inventory” (2020), https://ukinventory.nda.gov.uk/.

  18. ITER Organisation, “Safety and Environment” (2020), https://www.iter.org/mach/safety.

  19. M. García, P. Sauvan, R. García, F. Ogando, and J. Sanz, “Study of Concrete Activation with IFMIF-like Neutron Irradiation: Status of EAF and TENDL Neutron Activation Cross-Sections,” in EPJ Web of Conferences, vol. 146, (Les Ulis, France: EDP Sciences, 2017), 09037; L. El-Guebaly, V. Massaut, K. Tobita, and L. Cadwallader, “Goals, Challenges, and Successes of Managing Fusion Activated Materials,” Fusion Engineering and Design 83 (2008): 928–35.

  20. R. Conn et al., “Economic, Safety and Environmental Prospects of Fusion Reactors,” Nuclear Fusion 30 (1990): 1919.

  21. B. K. Sovacool et al., “Balancing Safety with Sustainability: Assessing the Risk of Accidents for Modern Low-Carbon Energy Systems,” Journal of Cleaner Production 112 (2016): 3952–965; S. Gordelier, Comparing Nuclear Accident Risks with Those from Other Energy Sources (OECD, 2010), doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264097995-en; “Deaths per TWh by Energy Source,” NextBigFuture.com (2011), https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2011/03/deaths-per-twh-by-energy-source.html; A. Markandya and P. Wilkinson, “Electricity Generation and Health,” Lancet 370 (2007): 979–90.

  22. F. Richter, M. Steenbeck, M. Wilhelm, et al., Nuclear Accidents and Policy: Notes on Public Perception (DIW Berlin, the German Socio-Economic Panel [SOEP], 2013); P. A. Kharecha and M. Sato, “Implications of Energy and CO2 Emission Changes in Japan and Germany After the Fukushima Accident,” Energy Policy 132 (2019): 647–53; M. J. Neidell, S. Uchida, and M. Veronesi, Be Cautious with the Precautionary Principle: Evidence from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident (Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2019).

  23. P. A. Kharecha and J. E. Hansen, “Prevented Mortality and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Historical and Projected Nuclear Power,” Environmental Science & Technology 47 (2013): 4889–895.

  Chapter 9: Finishing the Race for Fusion

  1. E. Lawrence, Ernest Lawrence banquet speech, the Nobel Foundation, 1940 (Nobel Media AB, 2020), https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1939/lawrence/speech/.

  2. D. van Houtte et al., “Recent Fully Non-Inductive Operation Results in Tore Supra with 6 Min, 1GJ Plasma Discharges,” Nuclear Fusion 44 (2004): L11–L15; X. Gong et al., “Integrated Operation of Steady-State Long-Pulse H-Mode in Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak,” Nuclear Fusion 59 (2019): 086030; Phys Org, “Korean Artificial Sun sets the New World Record of 20-Sec-Long Operation at 100 Million Degrees” (2020), https://phys.org/news/2020-12-korean-artificial-sun-world-sec-long.amp.

  3. J. Wesson and D. J. Campbell, Tokamaks, vol. 149 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011); F. Wagner et al., “Development of an Edge Transport Ba
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  4. J. Kates-Harbeck, A. Svyatkovskiy, and W. Tang, “Predicting Disruptive Instabilities in Controlled Fusion Plasmas Through Deep Learning,” Nature 568 (2019): 526; G. Kluth et al., “Deep Learning for NLTE Spectral Opacities,” Physics of Plasmas 27 (2020): 052707.

  5. T. Boisson, “British Nuclear Fusion Reactor Relaunched for the First Time in 23 Years,” Trust My Science (2020), https://trustmyscience.com/reacteur-fusion-anglais-relance-premiere-fois-depuis-23-ans/.

  6. J. Wesson and D. J. Campbell, Tokamaks, vol. 149 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011); A. E. Costley, “On the Fusion Triple Product and Fusion Power Gain of Tokamak Pilot Plants and Reactors,” Nuclear Fusion 56 (2016): 066003.

  7. T. Fujita et al., “High Performance Experiments in JT-60U Reversed Shear Discharges,” Nuclear Fusion 39 (1999): 1627–636;“Wendelstein 7-X Achieves World Record,” Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (2018), https://www.ipp.mpg.de/4413312/04_18; T. S. Pedersen et al., “First Results from Divertor Operation in Wendelstein 7-X,” Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 61 (2018): 014035.

  8. P. O’Shea, M. Laberge, M. Donaldson, M. Delage, et al., “Acoustically Driven Magnetized Target Fusion at General Fusion: An Overview,” Bulletin of the American Physical Society 61 (2016); D. Clery, “Alternatives to Tokamaks: A Faster-Better-Cheaper Route to Fusion Energy?,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences 377 (2019): 20170431; R. Mumgard, A New Approach to Funding, Accelerating, and Commercializing Fusion: NAS Comments, PPPL (Commonwealth Fusion Systems, 2018).

  9. J. Wesson and D. J. Campbell, Tokamaks, vol. 149 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).

  10. M. Claessens, ITER: The Giant Fusion Reactor: Bringing a Sun to Earth (London: Springer Nature, 2019).

  11. “ITER FAQ” (2020), http://www.iter.org/faq; E. Cartlidge, “Fusion Energy Pushed Back Beyond 2050,” BBC (2017), https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-40558758.

  12. ITER Organisation, ITER Research Plan Within the Staged Approach (Level III—Provisional Version), ITER (2018); G. Brennan, “When Will Fusion Power European Grids?—the Commercial Reactor—Part 2,” Engineers Journal (2016), http://www.engineersjournal.ie/2016/02/09/when-will-fusion-power-european-grids-the-commercial-reactor-part-2/.

  13. US Department of Energy, 2015 Review of the Inertial Confinement Fusion and High Energy Density Science Portfolio (National Nuclear Security Administration, 2016).

  14. O. A. Hurricane et al., “Fuel Gain Exceeding Unity in an Inertially Confined Fusion Implosion,” Nature 506 (2014): 343–48; O. Hurricane et al., “Approaching a Burning Plasma on the NIF,” Physics of Plasmas 26 (2019): 052704; S. Le Pape et al., “Fusion Energy Output Greater Than the Kinetic Energy of an Imploding Shell at the National Ignition Facility,” Physical Review Letters 120 (2018): 245003; D. Clery, “Laser Fusion Reactor Approaches ‘Burning Plasma’ Milestone,” Science 370 (2020): 1019–20.

  15. D. Clark et al., “Three-Dimensional Modeling and Hydrodynamic Scaling of National Ignition Facility Implosions,” Physics of Plasmas 26 (2019): 050601; V. Gopalaswamy et al., “Tripled Yield in Direct-Drive Laser Fusion Through Statistical Modelling,” Nature 565 (2019): 581–86.

  16. K. Hahn et al., “Fusion-Neutron Measurements for Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion Experiments on the Z Accelerator,” in Journal of Physics: Conference Series, vol. 717 (IOP Publishing, 2016), 012020.

  17. O. Hurricane et al., “Approaching a Burning Plasma on the NIF,” Physics of Plasmas 26 (2019): 052704; P. Amendt et al., “Ultra-High (>30%) Coupling Efficiency Designs for Demonstrating Central Hot-Spot Ignition on the National Ignition Facility Using a Frustraum,” Physics of Plasmas 26 (2019): 082707.

  18. R. Aymar, P. Barabaschi, and Y. Shimomura, “The ITER Design,” Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 44 (2002): 519–65.

  19. M. Claessens, ITER: The Giant Fusion Reactor: Bringing a Sun to Earth (London: Springer Nature, 2019); H. A. Bethe, “The Fusion Hybrid,” Nuclear News 21 (1978): 41; “Russia Develops a Fission-Fusion Hybrid Reactor,” Nuclear Engineering International Magazine (2018), https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsrussia-develops-a-fission-fusion-hybrid-reactor-6168535; R. Barrett and R. Hardie, Fusion-Fission Hybrid as an Alternative to the Fast Breeder Reactor (Los Alamos Scientific Lab, 1980).

  20. T. Klinger et al., “Overview of First Wendelstein 7-X High-Performance Operation,” Nuclear Fusion 59 (2019): 112004; F. Warmer et al., “From W7-X to a HELIAS Fusion Power Plant: On Engineering Considerations for Next-Step Stellarator Devices,” Fusion Engineering and Design 123 (2017): 47–53.

  21. I. T. Chapman and A. Morris, “UKAEA Capabilities to Address the Challenges on the Path to Delivering Fusion Power,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 377 (2019): 20170436; T. Tanabe et al., “Tritium Retention of Plasma Facing Components in Tokamaks,” Journal of Nuclear Materials 313 (2003): 478–90.

  22. I. T. Chapman and A. Morris, “UKAEA Capabilities to Address the Challenges on the Path to Delivering Fusion Power,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 377 (2019): 20170436; S. Brezinsek et al., “Fuel Retention Studies with the ITER-like Wall in JET,” Nuclear Fusion 53 (2013): 083023; A. Baron-Wiechec et al., “First Dust Study in JET with the ITER-like Wall: Sampling, Analysis and Classification,” Nuclear Fusion 55 (2015): 113033.

  23. M. Claessens, ITER: The Giant Fusion Reactor: Bringing a Sun to Earth (London: Springer Nature, 2019); A. Donné, “The European Roadmap Towards Fusion Electricity,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 377 (2019): 20170432.

  24. R. Miles et al., “Thermal and Structural Issues of Target Injection into a Laser-Driven Inertial Fusion Energy Chamber,” Fusion Science and Technology 66 (2014): 343–48.

  25. P. Mason et al., “Kilowatt Average Power 100 J-Level Diode Pumped Solid State Laser,” Optica 4 (2017): 438.

  26. W. Meier et al., “Fusion Technology Aspects of Laser Inertial Fusion Energy (Life),” Fusion Engineering and Design 89 (2014): 2489–492; M. Dunne et al., “Timely Delivery of Laser Inertial Fusion Energy (LIFE),” Fusion Science and Technology 60 (2011): 19–27; T. M. Anklam, M. Dunne, W. R. Meier, S. Powers, and A. J. Simon, “LIFE: The Case for Early Commercialization of Fusion Energy,” Fusion Science and Technology 60 (2011): 66–71.

  27. D. Clery, “Knighthood in Hand, Astrophysicist Prepares to Lead U.S. Fusion Lab,” Science (2019), https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/06/knighthood-hand-astrophysicist-prepares-lead-us-fusion-lab.

  28. D. Clery, A Piece of the Sun: The Quest for Fusion Energy (New York: Abrams, 2014); N. R. Council, S. E. Koonin, et al., Second Review of the Department of Energy’s Inertial Confinement Fusion Program (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 1990); D. N. Bixler, “The LMF: Riding Out the Tide of Change,” Journal of Fusion Energy 10 (1991): 335–37; “National Ignition Facility. FAQs,” Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (2020), https://lasers.llnl.gov/about/faqs; N. R. Council et al., Review of the Department of Energy’s Inertial Confinement Fusion Program: The National Ignition Facility (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 1997).

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