Nuclear Fusion
A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2010) | Viewed by 86569
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Fusion is the energy source of the Sun and Stars. For over 50 years, scientists all over the world have been seeking to develop a process for tapping fusion energy for use on Earth. Fusion takes place most readily between deuterium and tritium, the two heavy isotopes of hydrogen. A gas of these isotopes, called a plasma, must be heated to temperatures of about 100 million degrees Celsius and kept away from material walls of a chamber for a long enough time to release a practical amount of fusion energy in a continuous or semi-continuous stream. There are several approaches to do this. The two flagship facilities are the magnetically confined international tokamak project (ITER) under construction in France and the National Ignition Facility (NIF), a laser-based facility recently came into operation in the U.S. This issue summarizes some of the latest developments in the quest for fusion energy.
Dr. Stephen O. Dean
Guest Editor