High Power Laser Science and Engineering, (2015), Vol. 3, e4, 8 pages.
© The Author(s) 2015. The online version of this article is published within an Open Access environment subject to the conditions of the
Creative Commons Attribution licence <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/>.
doi:10.1017/hpl.2014.51
Inertial confinement fusion and prospects for
power production
C.B. Edwards
1,2
and C.N. Danson
2
1
HiPER Project, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK
2
AWE plc, Aldermaston, UK
(Received 24 July 2014; revised 31 October 2014; accepted 2 December 2014)
Abstract
As our understanding of the environmental impact of fossil fuel based energy production increases, it is becoming clear
that the world needs a new energy solution to meet the challenges of the future. A transformation is required in the energy
market to meet the need for low carbon, sustainable, affordable generation matched with security of supply. In the short
term, an increasing contribution from renewable sources may provide a solution in some locations. In the longer term,
low carbon, sustainable solutions must be developed to meet base load energy demand, if the world is to avoid an ever
increasing energy gap and the attendant political instabilities. Laser-driven inertial fusion energy (IFE) may offer such a
solution.
Keywords: ICF; IFE; inertial confinement fusion; inertial fusion energy
1. Benefits of inertial fusion energy
Inertial fusion energy (IFE) has the potential to make a
substantial contribution to meeting world energy needs in the
second half of this century.
Security of supply and sustainability: IFE provides energy
security and avoids geopolitical constraints because the key
components of the fuel, deuterium and lithium, are abundant
and widely distributed. Assessments carried out within the
HiPER (European High Power Laser Energy Research Fa-
cility) project
[1]
show that sufficient materials are available
for global power production at the 1 TWe (terawatt electrical)
level for more than 1000 years.
Inherent safety: IFE is intrinsically very safe since it carries
no risk of ‘thermal runaway’. There is little stored energy
within the system, no ‘critical mass’ issues and, under fault
conditions, energy production would simply stop.
Low environmental impact: There are no carbon emissions
from the fusion energy production process. With the use
of suitable materials for the reaction vessel, the relatively
small amount of radioactive waste generated from neutron
activation will be short lived with the appropriate choice
Correspondence to: C.N. Danson, AWE, Aldermaston, Reading,
RG7 4PR, UK. Email: colin.danson@awe.co.uk
of materials and managed largely through recycling. Such
materials are already available.
Affordable energy: Financial modelling based on reasonable
assumptions of progress during the next phase of technology
development and ignition physics shows that electricity de-
rived from laser fusion may well be cost competitive with
other environmentally acceptable sources
[2]
, although the
energy landscape in 30–50 years is uncertain and hence
difficult to predict.
Separable technology: Physical separation of major systems,
laser driver, reaction vessel, balance of plant, etc., allows
accelerated development and reduced costs.
2. The D–T fusion reaction
The principle of fusion is simple, though its realization on an
industrial scale suitable for commercial energy production
is technologically extremely demanding. The underlying
physics involves the use of powerful lasers to heat a mixture
of two hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium, to an
extreme temperature of greater than 50 million degrees,
whereupon the constituent nuclei fuse to form a helium ion
(alpha particle) and a neutron, according to the reaction
shown in Figure 1. In each fusion reaction, the helium ion
1
