A page of energy issues and a companion to myths of fusion

Or see The Challenge of Fusion Power for a more recent attempt at the most important points

The key to most nuclear power research and development is materials, whether for fission or fusion.

So materials considerations are another way of understanding the problems that fusion power currently faces.

We need two or three materials, in theory it could be just one but that seems unlikely. There are three functions that need to be addressed. 

• We need a plasma facing material for the chamber lining or first wall. This material needs to withstand an enormous flux of very fast neutrons without contaminating the plasma or generating large quantities of nuclear waste.
• We need a material for the breeding blanket which will generate significantly more than one Tritium nucleus for every neutron it absorbs, again without creating large quantities of nuclear waste.
• And we need a material that when exposed to very fast neutrons will efficiently convert their energy into a form which can eventually generate electricity.

None of these objectives is negotiable. And so far, there is no known material which does any of these three things. But research is continuing. It's unwise to say "Impossible!" where technology is concerned. Who knows what ideas are lurking just around the corner of current thinking?

In particular, development of these materials is a key objective of the IFMIF and of ITER itself.