Is inertial fusion now at pace with magnetic?

摘要

Embedded in the ANS Winter Meeting, the 19th Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE) presented plenary sessions on both the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the joint multinational effort in magnetic fusion, and the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the inertial fusion experiment intended to demonstrate the ignition of fusion fuel. This reflects the magnitude of the work related to these facilities, each at the forefront of its approach to fusion plasma confinement. But while ITER has generally been seen as a development project, and NIF as an experiment, inertial fusion researchers took the opportunity to describe NIF's readiness to carry 2030s.