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Nuclear Fusion

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Handbook of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

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Abstract

Nuclear Fusion is the power of the sun and all shining stars in the universe. Controlled nuclear fusion toward ultimate energy sources for human beings has been developed intensively worldwide for this half a century. A fusion power plant is free from concern of exhaustion of fuels and production of CO2. Therefore, it has a very attractive potential to be eternal fundamental energy sources and will contribute to resolving problems of climate change. On the other hand, unresolved issues in physics and engineering still remain. It will take another several decades to realize a fusion power plant by integration of advanced science and engineering such as control of high-temperature plasma exceeding 100 million °C and breeding technology of tritium by generated neutrons. The research and development has entered the phase of engineering demonstration to extract 500 MW of thermal energy from fusion reaction in the 2030s. The demonstration of electric power generation by 2050 is targeted.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan

    Hiroshi Yamada

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  1. Hiroshi Yamada
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Correspondence to Hiroshi Yamada .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Chemical Engineering, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria

    Maximilian Lackner

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Mississippi, Oxford, USA

    Baharak Sajjadi

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, USA

    Wei-Yin Chen

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Yamada, H. (2021). Nuclear Fusion. In: Lackner, M., Sajjadi, B., Chen, WY. (eds) Handbook of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6431-0_31-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6431-0_31-3

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6431-0

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Nuclear Fusion
    Published:
    02 April 2021

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6431-0_31-3

  2. Original

    Fusion Energy
    Published:
    02 April 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6431-0_31-2

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