FPN10-32
Academies to Review Inertial Fusion for Energy
June 25, 2010
The U.S. National Academies of Science and Engineering has agreed to
carry out a review of the "Prospects for Inertial Confinement Fusion
Energy Systems" for the U.S, Department of Energy (DOE). The review will
be carried out by a committee under the auspices of the Academies'
National Research Council (NRC). Although DOE Under Secretary for
Science Steven Koonin announced intention to carry out the study in
November 2009, the study has yet to begin. NRC sources told Fusion Power
Associates that formal authorization to begin the study is bogged down
in the DOE contracting bureaucracy and that though "we long ago agreed
to do this study, we are still waiting for DOE to send the contract
over." They indicated that they are "anxious to get this project
started." The study is expected to take 2 years, but an interim report
is expected earlier. The following is the statement of work for the
study.
Statement of Task—Prospects for Inertial Confinement Fusion Energy Systems
A committee will be convened to assess the prospects for inertial
confinement fusion energy systems. The Committee will prepare a report
that will:
- Assess the prospects for generating power using inertial confinement
fusion;
- Identify scientific and engineering challenges, cost targets, and
R&D objectives associated with developing an IFE demonstration plant;
- Advise the U.S. Department of Energy on its development of an R&D
roadmap aimed at creating a conceptual design for an inertial fusion
energy demonstration plant.
The Committee will also prepare an interim report to inform FY 2012
budget deliberations. A Panel on Fusion Target Physics will serve as a
technical resource to the committee.
Statement of Task—Fusion Target Physics
A Panel on Fusion Target Physics ("the Panel") with access to classified
information as well as controlled-restricted unclassified information
will serve as a technical resource to the Committee on Inertial
Confinement Energy Systems ("the Committee") and will describe, in a
report containing only publicly accessible information, the R&D
challenges to providing suitable targets on the basis of parameters
established and provided by the Committee. The Panel will also assess
the current performance of various fusion target technologies.