The Path to Net Electricity for Magnetic Fusion

The Path to Net Electricity for Magnetic Fusion by Dr. John Parmentola Senior Vice President Energy and Advanced Concepts Presented at the American Security Project Fusion Event June 5, 2012 1

Worldwide Research Has Advanced Fusion to the Goal of Sustained Ignition DEMO ITER • Many orders of magnitude (a factor of one trillion) improvement have been achieved over 40 years • Significant fusion power (> 10 MW) already demonstrated ITER will demonstrate a 500 MW sustained fusion plasma 2

U. S. Domestic Program Provides Powerful Capabilities to Address Key ITER Issues • ¼ scale prototype of ITER DIII-D • Extreme plasma shaping • Can reproduce ITER operating regimes • Large fraction of energetic particles NSTX • Extensive diagnostics • High ratio of thermal to magnetic pressure Together: • Develop physics solutions critical to ITER success • Establish more robust performance scaling trends • Provide a fuller physics picture through complementary measurement techniques Alcator CMOD • ITER-level magnetic field • Reactor relevant metal wall • Reactor-like power density 3

U. S. Path to Net Electricity Requires Talented People and a New Facility A gifted and talented workforce is required to support & exploit ITER NSTX DIII-D FNSF Power Plant ITER Fusion Nuclear Science Facility (FNSF) challenges: - High performance, steady-state operation - Makes its own fuel Alcator CMOD - Materials for extreme environments 4

ITER Site Construction Progresses Concrete Walls & Anti-Seismic Pit Concrete Work for Tokamak Complex PF Coil Winding Building PF Coil Spreader Beam 5 1

Plan to Net Electricity Success in ITER and FNSF would enable DEMO construction to begin in next decade! 6

Summary U. S. investment over 40 years has led the world in realizing fusion energy ITER, the largest experiment in human history involving 6 nations (US, China, India, S. Korea, Japan and Russia) and the EU, is the next major step U. S. domestic program is essential in realizing the success of ITER and fusion energy in the next decade 7