THE 'SOFTER' SIDE OF FUSION^fE MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT

• Published in: Advanced materials & processes 2023-09, Vol.181 (6), p.12-16
• Main Authors: Garcia-Diaz, Brenda L, Hitchcock, Dale, Larsen, George, Guin, Tyler, Sindelar, Bob, Dylla-Spears, Rebecca J, Williams, G Jackson, Xia, Xiaoxing, Kemp, G Elijah
• Format: Magazinearticle
• Language: English
• Subjects: Additive manufacturing; Catalysis; Commercial space industry; Commercial spacecraft; Commercialization; Design; Energy; Energy technology; Fusion; Ignition; Lasers; Materials durability; Materials research; Materials science; Polymers; Power plants; Space capsules; Stellarators; Success; Technology assessment; Tokamak devices; Transportation services
• ISSN: 0882-7958; 2161-9425

Private investors are taking a portfolio approach to fusion investments and are funding a variety of different fusion energy technologies including multiple MFE concepts (tokamaks, stellarators, axis-symmetric mirrors, Z-pinches), multiple IFE concepts in terms of driver and target types (laser indirect drive, laser direct drive, laser fast ignition, pulsed power, shock-driven), as well as hybrid concepts between MFE and IFE such as MagLIF. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has recently announced a fixed-price milestone payment program based on the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to help encourage commercial space flight, which included companies such as SpaceX. IFE FUSION MATERIALS RESEARCH Inertial-confinement fusion energy (IFE) has been an increasing part of the discussion around fusion commercialization after an experiment, or "shot" at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California in December 2022 achieved ignition14 and was recently repeated in July 2023 with greater yield. [...]polymer-based capsules offer a relatively high technology readiness level (TRL), lower cost, and simpler fabrication. [...]they remain the leading candidate for current and future IFE facilities, especially IFE power plants, where vast quantities of targets per day will be needed.