Inertial fusion is an approach to achieve controlled nuclear fusion by compressing and heating a small pellet of fusion fuel, typically deuterium and tritium, to extreme temperatures and pressures, often exceeding those inside the core of our sun.
Inertial fusion relies on the rapid compression of fuel pellets that are confined briefly by their own inertia, while magnetic confinement fusion uses powerful magnetic fields to confine and electro-magnetic waves to heat a fuel plasma. The two approaches have different technical challenges and advantages.
The primary goal is to achieve controlled nuclear fusion reactions that release more energy than is required to initiate and sustain the process. This could provide a nearly limitless, clean, and sustainable source of energy.
Inertial fusion systems typically involve a laser, pulsed power, or ion beam system to compress and heat the fuel pellet, a target chamber, diagnostics to monitor the process, and various support systems.
Inertial fusion faces several technical challenges, such as achieving sufficient compression and heating of the fuel pellet to produce high fusion energy outputs, managing instabilities, breeding tritium fuel, and developing system components that can survive the intense energy release.
The timeline for achieving practical fusion energy through inertial fusion is uncertain, but it is an active area of research. Significant progress has been made in recent years including the demonstration of fusion ignition and target gain (https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-national-laboratory-makes-history-achieving-fusion-ignition), but practical applications may still be a few decades away.
Inertial fusion has the potential to provide a clean, significantly safer, and nearly limitless energy source with minimal greenhouse gas emissions. It could reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and contribute to addressing climate change.
