Obstacles to the Commercial Viability of ITER

Introduction

Fig. 1: ITER: Outside view of the central tokamak complex. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Nuclear fusion is the process in which two lighter atomic nuclei fuse together to form a relatively heavier atomic nucleus and release energy. [1] This is the energy production process that powers the sun. [1] Humans are trying to harness this energy production process by building nuclear fusion reactors. One prominent example of a nuclear fusion reactor under construction is ITER.

ITER

ITER, originally known as International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, is the largest experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor in the world. [2] It is the world's foremost hope for a successful nuclear fusion reactor. It uses the deuterium-tritium fusion reaction to power it. [2] You can see an outside view of ITER under construction in Fig 1. However, there are some significant challenges to the commercial viability of using ITER to supply energy to meet energy demands.

Obstacles to Commercial Viability

Estimated costs of fusion energy generation, based on the ITER design, are higher than costs of energy generation from nuclear fission and fossil fuels. [3] The cost of electricity (COE) for ITER is estimated to be ~100 mEuro/kWh. [4] While the COE for nuclear fission and fossil fuel based energy generation are ~60 mEuro/kWh and ~50 mEuro/kWh respectively. [4] This means that in its current state, even if ITER works, it is not economically viable. Any energy production source, that isn't economically viable, can never be commercially viable.

Further, the deuterium-tritium fusion reactions that ITER will use present special difficulties. In deuterium-tritium reactions energetic neutron streams make up 80% of the energy output. [3] This leads directly to four problems - radiation damage to internal structures; creation of radioactive waste; the need for incorporating biological shielding; and the potential for the production of weapons-grade plutonium 239. [3] Each of these problems provides a significant challenge to the successful commercial implementation of ITER as an energy production source.

Conclusion

We should remain optimistic that ITER will work as intended. This would be a significant achievement for mankind. However, as observed here, ITER, which will spend 22 billion US Dollars on its development, might never be commercially viable. [2]

© Renasha Mishra. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.

References

[1] B. Viswanathan, Energy Sources (Elsevier, 2016).

[2] E. Gibney, "Fuel for World's Largest Fusion Reactor ITER is Set for Test Run," Nature 591, 15 (2021).

[3] U. Schumacher, "Status and Problems of Fusion Reactor Development," Naturwiss. 88, 102 (2001).

[4] T. C. Hender et al., "Key Issues for the Economic Viability of Magnetic Fusion Power," Fusion Technol. 30, 1605 (1996).