LAUSR.org creates dashboard-style pages of related content for over 1.5 million academic articles. Sign Up to like articles & get recommendations!

Nuclear Fusion Diffusion: Theory, Policy, Practice, and Politics Perspectives

Photo from wikipedia

Fusion energy has the potential to address long-term energy requirements and climate change. However, fusion energy is characterized by a “development divide” between the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) consortium… Click to show full abstract

Fusion energy has the potential to address long-term energy requirements and climate change. However, fusion energy is characterized by a “development divide” between the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) consortium members and the non-ITER “Global South” states. It is beset with problems, which can be divided into geopolitical, geo-economic, geo-sociocultural, and geo-technological (GEO-PEST). Geopolitical problems include cooperation on fusion energy development between ITER members (of the Global North) and the Global South on fusion development. Geo-economic problems include the cost of funding ITER versus newly emerging private-sector fusion companies. Geo-sociocultural problems include the requirement to maintain the peacebuilding tradition of nuclear energy (embodied by the Cold War-era “Atoms for Peace” initiative), as well as public perceptions of radiation. Geo-technological problems include tokamak lock-in, fuel type, the viability of “compact reactors,” and disruptive technology events. In this article, we outline these problems and discuss how to address them in a timely fashion via an external independent review mechanism, modeled on the International Energy Agency's “Global Commission for Urgent Action on Energy Efficiency,” established in 2019 and due to deliver recommendations in 2020.

Keywords: energy; nuclear fusion; problems include; fusion diffusion; fusion energy; fusion

Journal Title: IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management
Year Published: 2020

Link to full text (if available)


Share on Social Media:                               Sign Up to like & get
recommendations!

Related content

More Information              News              Social Media              Video              Recommended



                Click one of the above tabs to view related content.