Thermonuclear fusion research progress and the way to the reactor

The paper reviews the progress of fusion research and its prospects for electricity generation. It starts with a reminder of the principles of thermonuclear fusion and a brief discussion of its potential role in the future of the world energy production. The reactions allowing energy production by fusion of nuclei in stars and on earth and the conditions required to sustain them are reviewed. At the high temperatures required for fusion (hundred millions kelvins), matter is completely ionized and has reached what is called its 4^th state: the plasma state. The possible means to achieve these extreme temperatures is discussed. The remainder of the paper focuses on the most promising of these approaches, magnetic confinement. The operating principles of the presently most efficient machine of this type - the tokamak - is described in some detail. On the road to producing energy with fusion, a number of obstacles have to be overcome. The plasma, a fluid that reacts to electromagnetic forces and carries currents and charges, is a complex medium. Fusion plasma is strongly heated and is therefore a good example of a system far from equilibrium. A wide variety of instabilities can grow in this system and lead to self-organized structures and spontaneous cycles. Turbulence is generated that degrades the confinement and hinders easy achievement of long lasting hot plasmas. Physicists have learned how to quench turbulence, thereby creating sort of insulating bottles inside the plasma itself to circumvent this problem. The recent history of fusion performance is outlined and the prospect of achieving power generation by fusion in a near future is discussed in the light of the development of the "International Tokamak Experimental Reactor" project ITER.