Exclusive Interview with Shuttle Pilot Robert Crippen

Vertical coilJoule windingVertical coil (main)Toroidal coilVacuum chamberPlasmaFigure 1HELIOTRON E SCHEMATICThe Heiiotron E is a toroidal plasma experiment using a spiral-shaped conductor to create the magnetic forcefield that contains the fusion fuel or plasma. Although these laboratory devices use a normal hydrogen plasma,the fusion reactor itself will burn a mixture of the two heavy forms of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium), availablefrom seawater. The fuel mixture must be heated to a temperature of millions of degrees in order to ignite thefusion reaction. At this temperature, hotter than the Sun, the fuel must be insulated and confined, a functionperformed by the magnetic field. The other magnetic field coils on this device provide heating and stabilitycontrol for the hot, ionized fuel.entists have put it, the remaining problems with fusionare not scentific but political.Japanese involvement in fusion-related research beganin the 1950s, growing out of discussions at internationalscientific conferences.The Early YearsUchida credits a 1956 speech by I.V. Kurchatov, theSoviet physicist, with influencing the shape of the earlyJapanese fusion work. Kurchatov said that if you wantfusion, you have to begin with basic theoretical work inplasma physics. The American scientists, Uchida said,agreed with Kurchatov and gave the Japanese the sameadvice.In 1959, Japan's Science Council debated whether towork on an energy-producing fusion device or develop aresearch-oriented fusion program and decided on thelatter. The first Japanese toroidal research device, theHeiiotron A, was under construction at Kyoto Universitythat same year.Two years later, the Institute for Plasma Physics wasestablished at Nagoya University. The IPP continues to bethe lead university laboratory for the exploration of alternativeconcepts for fusion to the tokamak, with 20 researchunits involving about 140 scientists and engineers. In 1966,the Laboratory for Plasma Physics was created at KyotoUniversity to upgrade and continue the Heiiotron work.Another major influence on the Japanese program wasthe 1958 Geneva conference on the Peaceful Uses ofAtomic Energy, where the United States, the Soviet Union,and Great Britain declassified their early thermonuclearfusion research. Throughout the 1960s, international cooperationwith the world fusion community continued tobe of prime importance, as Japanese scientists visited U.S.and other fusion laboratories and participated in variousinternational symposia.At the third IAEA conference on fusion, held in Novosibirsk,Siberia in 1968, the Soviets announced their startlingprogress with a toroidal-shaped magnetic fusioncontainer, or tokamak. This and subsequent results withthe tokamak convinced the Japanese to pursue a comprehensiveprogram geared not only to research but toenergy production. Professor Uchida recalls that at thetime Japanese scientists were still not absolutely sure thatfusion was practical, but they thought it was worth anaggressive try to find out. In 1969, Japan's Atomic EnergyCommission launched a five year plan for fusion as partof a national energy program.Three years later the JFT-2 (Japan Fusion Tokamak)began operation to test basic plasma physics theory.The evaluation of the research on the JFT led to adecision in 1973 to launch an even more aggressive toka-26 FUSION August 1981