Fusion reactor design. II - Report on the Second IAEA Technical Committee Meeting and Workshop, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, 10-21 October 1977

A summary is given of the experimental, demonstration and commercial fusion reactor concepts presented at the Second IAEA Technical Committee Meeting and Workshop on Fusion Reactor Design. The potential role of fusion power as an inexhaustible energy source is discussed, the advances and trends in fusion reactor design assessed, and the major conclusions and recommendations of five workshop groups given. At present, designs for tokamaks are most heavily represented, with the emphasis on near-term reactor studies. Conceptual commerical reactors are becoming compact, high-power-density units. Reactor concepts are also presented for Q-enhanced mirror machines, alternate magnetic fusion concepts, and laser- and electron-beam-driven inertial confinement reactors. The fusion-fission hybrid concepts open up several approaches to fusion power, and special-topic papers cover technology problems and fusion commercialization.