Riemann's Contribution to Flight and Laser Fusion

European Panel RecommendsIncreased Fusion EffortA high-level scientific review committeerecommended to the EuropeanCommunity in early July that it"remain in the front line of fusionR&D [through] a steady continuationof the European Fusion Programme.. . . The main objective of the programmefor the coming decades mustbe to prove the feasibility of fusion asan energy source and to search foroptimum ways of fully exploiting itspotential."To accomplish these goals, theDOE Stalling on FEDContinued from page 21ready to manage, plan, and overseethe fusion program's entire engineeringeffort, not just the Fusion EngineeringDevice, and that industryshould take over the role of the CFE.Other individual companies, in particularthose aerospace companieswith many years of experience in government-sponsoredspace and defenseprograms, expressed anotherview. The role of the CFE should notbe "overly ambitious," said Dr. DonaldKummer, representing the fusionprogram of the McDonnell DouglasAstronautics Co. Its function shouldbe "planning, programmatic, andtechnical administration in support ofthe Office of Fusion Energy" in theDOE, he said.Kummer emphasized that the roleof the CFE must be "clearly delineated.. . . When the boundary conditionsfor the CFE are not fixed, it isinevitable that the national laboratories,universities, or industry will findthat their traditional roles are beinginfringed and they will protest."Another aerospace representative,Pete Staudhammer of TRW, stressedthat the engineering phase must be apartnership between the laboratoriesand industry, and he recountedTRW's experience in the late 1950'sballistic missile planning, in which industryprovided the systems engipanelproposed a 30 percent fundingincrease in fusion R&D over the comingfive years.The 11-member committee includedscientists from European universitiesand representatives from thenuclear, aerospace, and electrical industries.It was chaired by ProfessorK. H. Beckurts, a senior vice presidentof Siemens, A.G.The committee report recommendsthat the Joint European Torus (JET)tokamak fusion device, now underneering and technological direction'for the Department of Defense.Staudhammer also warned that "thefuture of the magnetic fusion programmay well be in jeopardy . . .because of lack of proper funding,"a reference to the fact that the Reaganbudget has given fusion $60 millionless than the 1980 legislation for the1982 fiscal year.Dr. Harold Agnew, who has bothindustry and lab experience (as a formerdirector of the Los Alamos NationalScientific Laboratory and nowas president of General Atomic Co.),then summarized what he calledthree prerequisites for the transfer offusion technology to industry.First, he said, there must be a strongnational commitment to the engineeringphase of fusion that does notchange with each administration; second,strong industrial leadership mustbe available; and third, the knowledgeconcentrated in the laboratoriesmust be accessible to industry as thefusion program moves into the engineeringphase.Finally, panel member Mike Mc-Cormack reminded the witnesses andother panel members that the FEDwill not be a commercial demonstrationreactor but an engineering device,so the concern by some representatives,such as the AIF speaker,that utility end-users be involved inthe FED, is premature.—MarshaFreemanconstruction in Britain at the CulhamLaboratory, "push ahead as fast aspossible" and that it be brought tofull operation and be prepared foroperation with the deuterium-tritiumfuel that will be required in commercialreactors.The JET is a tokamak approximatelythe size of the Princeton TokamakFusion Test Reactor, scheduled for a1982 completion, and it is designed toreach energy breakeven, thus demonstratingthe scientific feasibility ofmagnetic fusion. The JET program isnow about two years behind theTFTR, and the European Communityis expected to decide shortly to burndeuterium-tritium fuel in the reactor.An International EffortAn important recommendation ofthe report is to "initiate a substantialand well-balanced program in fusiontechnology, mainly focused on thesolution of the technological problemsof NET [Next European Torus],making use of relevant experience infission reactor technology."In this recommendation, the panelis echoing the results of recent reviewsof the U.S. and Japanese fusionprograms, which concluded that fusionwas ready to enter the engineeringand technology developmentphase. The panel suggests that the EC"intensify activities on the conceptualdesign of a next step device ... bysetting up a NET study team," andthat a "high-level Fusion TechnologySteering Committee advising the [EC]Commission on the activities of thesecond stage" be created.Increased international cooperation,particularly with the UnitedStates, will be crucial for the engineeringphase, the panel suggests; inareas such as the magnetic mirror,'where Europe has no program at all,it should be willing to send peopleand possibly hardware to the UnitedStates to increase its participation inthe advanced U.S. program.The panel recommends against beginninga fusion-fission hybrid developmentprogram, which would usethe neutrons produced in the fusionprocess to breed fuel for conventionalreactors, but it does suggest that thepotential for such systems "be periodicallyreviewed." The panel also rec-60 FUSION October-November 1981