FUSION ENERGYA Compelling Opportunity for Alberta

Allan Offenberger/Finance Committee

Alberta/Canada Fusion Energy Program

Presentation to Standing Committee on

Resources & Environment – March 2009

Fusion Energy - Nature’s Choice

• Imagine an energy source – universal, abundant, clean (water, He)

• Imagine – proof-of-principle experiments within 2 years

• Imagine – demonstration of power production in 20 years

• Imagine Alberta – leader in clean fusion energy development and global supplier of

fusion technology

Alberta Fusion Proposal

• The Proposal: Alberta implement & fund a fusion energy program – fits Alberta priorities (energy/environment/economy)

• The Opportunity:– establish Alberta leadership and base in Phase I to launch

national program in Phase II– leverage international working relationships & investment– develop a US/Canada fusion energy/environment protocol– gain significant socio-economic benefits from fusion as an

overarching energy/environment technology

• The Funding: Phase I ~$21M over 3 years ($4M first year)– urgent decision needed to participate in US campaign

Issues - Challenges & Opportunities

• Energy/environment challenge – demand/supply/clean energy

• Fusion, an ultimate energy source – why the world wants it

• Achieving fusion – conditions, approaches, status, future

• Fusion R&D – spin-offs from a high technology driver

• Alberta opportunity – leadership & socio-economic benefits

• Implementation – strategy, funding, international protocols

Energy Demand/Supply Challenge

• To obtain just 1 CMO in 50 years from various sources requires:– coal: 2 power plants/wk– nuclear (fission): 1 power plant/wk– solar (thermal): 3 power plants/wk– solar (PV): 250,000 rooftop installs/day – wind: 1,200 turbines/wk– biodiesel: 85 times annual world soybean production– oilsands: 1.5 million barrels/day

Data From “Energy & Capital“ Newsletter (Nov 21/08)

• Current Oil Used Annually: ~ 1CMO (1 cu mile oil)• Total Energy Used Annually: ~ 3 CMO• Cumulative Energy Demand to 2050: ~ 270 CMO > carbon fuels

1mile

Energy/Environment Challenge

Electricity, Greenhouse Gases (GHG) & Climate Change

• Demand for clean electrical power generation: (>40TW by 2100)

• Climate Change Limits: CO2 and other GHG limits

• Carbon Fuel Limits: projections of peak coal by ~2025

• World needs all “clean” energy alternatives to meet future demand:

limited options & long lead-times (20-40 years)

• Non-Carbon solutions (only 3): fusion, fission breeders, renewable

Fuel/Waste Processing Challenge

Daily fuel consumption & waste production for 1GWe

Coal plant Fission plant (U) Fusion plant (D,T)

Fuel ~ 10,000T ~77kg ~ 0.27kg D ~ 0.82kg Li6 (0.41kg

T)

Waste ~ 30,000T CO2 ~77kg ~ 1.09kg He (“ash”)

~ 600T SO2 (advantage fusion)

~ 40T NOx

~ 600T fly ash

Issues - Challenges & Opportunities

• Energy/environment context – demand/supply/clean energy

• Fusion, an ultimate energy source – why the world wants it

• Achieving fusion – conditions, approaches, status, future

• Fusion R&D – spin-offs from a high technology driver

• Alberta opportunity – leadership & socio-economic benefits

• Implementation – strategy, funding, international protocols

Fusion Efficiently Converts Mass to Energy

A 100 Ton Coal Hopper Runs a 1GWe Power Plant for 10-20 Min

Same Hopper Filled With IFE Targets Runs it For 7 Years

Source: General Atomic

Fusion Energy - Why The World Likes It

• Abundant fuel supply (D in water and Li on land and sea)

• No risk of nuclear accident (no public evacuation in vicinity of plant)

• No GHG or air pollution (He4 is the only “ash”)

• No radioactive fusion products

• No production of weapons material

• Fusion consumes less fuel mass per unit energy than any other source

– less resource investment, impact on environment (finding, producing)

Fusion Energy - Why It Is Important

• Fusion is one of few sustainable, GHG-free solutions for fueling central power plants– fission (sustainable only with fuel breeding)– fusion (sustainable, primary energy source, electricity/hydrogen)– renewables (sustainable, secondary energy source)

• Potential applications– base-load electric power generation– production of hydrogen/synthetic fuels– heat for chemical processing, etc.– desalination of sea-water– clean-up fission waste (transmutation of radioactive nuclides)– production of fissile fuel for fission reactors– hazardous waste processing

Alberta relevant

Issues - Challenges & Opportunities

• Energy/environment context – demand/supply/clean energy

• Fusion, an ultimate energy source – why the world wants it

• Achieving fusion – conditions, approaches, status, future

• Fusion R&D – spin-offs from a high technology driver

• Alberta opportunity – leadership & socio-economic benefits

• Implementation – strategy, funding, international protocols

Fusion Reactions - Conditions/Approaches

• Must heat (deuterium, tritium) fuel to high temperature:– fusion reaction D + T = n + He + energy – ignition temperature: Tign 100 million deg C– burning occurs when heating is self-sustained (by helium)

• Must confine hot fuel for sufficient time to achieve net energy:– Lawson criterion: n 1020 m-3 sec (density n, confinement time )– two confinement approaches: (i) magnetic; (ii) inertial– inertial fusion energy (IFE) uses lasers to ignite fuel pellets by:

(i) central ignition; (ii) fast ignition

Inertial Fusion - Fuel Ignition/Burn

Two pathways – central and fast ignition

HeatHelium

Ignition laser

Inertial Fusion – Global Initiative

NIF

GA

OMEGA

NRL ILE

SG-IISG-IIICAT

ARZAMAS-16RAL

AWELULI

LMJS

NIF-LLNLLMJ-CEAFIREX-ILEHiPER-RALOMEGA-URHAPL-NRL

Map: General Atomics

??HiPER