Fusion The Energy Source for the XXI Century

Fusion: The Energy Source for the XXI Century Mohamed Abdou Distinguished Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department Director, Center for Energy Science and Technology Advanced Research (CESTAR) Director, Fusion Science and Technology Center University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Keynote Remarks presented at the 9 th International Cairo Conference on Energy and Environment

What is Nuclear Fusion? • • Nuclear Fusion is the energy-producing process taking place in the core of the Sun and stars The core temperature of the Sun is about 15 million °C. At these temperatures hydrogen nuclei fuse to give Helium and Energy. The energy sustains life on Earth via sunlight

The World, particularly in developing countries, needs a New Energy Source • Growth in world population and growth in energy demand from increased industrialisation/affluence will lead to an Energy Gap which will be increasingly difficult to fill with fossil fuels • Without improvements in efficiency we will need 80% more energy by 2020 • Even with efficiency improvements at the limit of technology we would still need 40% more energy

ITER • The World is about to construct the next step in fusion development, a device called ITER • ITER will demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy for peaceful purposes • ITER will produce 500 MW of fusion power • Cost, including R&D, is 15 billion dollars

ITER Design - Main Features Central Solenoid Outer Intercoil Structure Blanket Module Vacuum Vessel Cryostat Toroidal Field Coil Port Plug (IC Heating Poloidal Field Coil Divertor Machine Gravity Supports Torus Cryopump

ITER is a collaborative effort among Europe, Japan, US, Russia, China and South Korea

ITER Location Caradache (France) Rokkasho (Japan)

Summary • The D-T Fusion process offers the promise of: – Virtually unlimited energy source from cheap abundant fuels; – No atmospheric pollution of greenhouse and acid rain gases; – Low radioactive burden from waste for future generations. • Tremendous Progress has been achieved over the past decades in plasma physics and fusion technology. • Fusion R&D involves many challenging areas of physics and technologies and is carried out through extensive international collaboration • EU, JA, USA, RF, PRC, Korea are about to construct ITER to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy (ITER will produce 500 MW of fusion power and the project total cost is about $15 B)