The Contribution of Fusion
to Sustainable Development

Summary

A full version of this paper is also available.

Even on the most conservative assessments of rates of economic development and population growth, there will be a large increase in the demand for electricity over the next half century. Only some of the increased demand can realistically be met by conservation and renewables. Newly- recognised environmental imperatives, such as the prevention of climate instability and acidic pollution, will severely constrain any reliance which can be placed on the burning of fossil fuels. Fusion offers a source of electricity supply which is secure, virtually resource-unlimited, and has been found by an independent review body [1] to possess “inherent environmental and safety advantages over all current alternatives for base load electricity generation”.

Public acceptance and safety

Fusion power is environmentally benign since it would contribute nothing to the greenhouse effect or to pollution of the atmosphere by acidic emissions. Studies [2, 3] suggest that it is likely that a fusion power station can be designed so that there would be no requirement for public evacuation in the aftermath of even the worst accident, and that the wastes arising from its operation and decommissioning would not need isolation from the environment for a prolonged timespan. Because fusion’s safety is based on inherent and passive features, it will be readily demonstrable to the non-scientist. Thus fusion is not expected to suffer from problems of public acceptance. Nuclear fusion may be the means by which continued economic development may be reconciled with the prevention of climate instability and environmental degradation.

Economics

It is not yet certain that fusion’s potential can be realised in an acceptably economic form. Determining whether this can be done is the purpose of the world-wide fusion research and development programme. Present indications are that the cost of fusion electricity will be comparable to the cost of fossil-fuel and fission electricity.

Conclusion

The potential contribution of fusion to long-term sustainable world development is very great, because of its favourable safety and environmental features. Therefore it is important that fusion is seen as an ingredient, in a long term strategy, that will allow economic growth to continue world- wide without generating major global environmental deterioration. Thus the case for continued investment of a small part of the United Kingdom’s current output in the development of fusion is an aspect of the more general case for “sustainable development, which aims to hand on man-made and natural resources so that future generations are at least no worse off than this one” [4].

For more on these topics, see the full version of this paper.

References