Abstract
The focus of the US fusion program throughout its history has been the achievement of what has often been termed “scientific feasibility,” i.e., producing and containing a high temperature plasma that exceeds the Lawson criterion. Facilities like the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) and the Joint European Torus (JET) have come close to demonstrating that goal, but such achievements, while necessary, are not sufficient to demonstrate the capability to actually produce commercial electric power or any of the other possible commercial applications of fusion discussed in the last chapter. It is thus necessary to couple the production of a fusion plasma to the engineering systems necessary to reliably and cost-effectively transform the fusion energy into a usable form.
Only when Edison realized that his lightbulb would have to work outside the lab and be part of a total system did it dawn on him how to create a properly working bulb.
–Ira Flatow
Author, They all Laughed… From Lightbulbs to Lasers
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Dean, S.O. (2013). Engineering Challenges. In: Search for the Ultimate Energy Source. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6037-4_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6037-4_12
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