COULD ADVANCED FUSION FUELS BE USED WITH TODAYS TECHNOLOGY

Could today's technology suffice for engineering advanced-fuel, magnet ic-fusion power plants, thus making fusion development primarily a phy sics problem? Such a path would almost certainly cost far less than th e present D-T development program, which is driven by daunting enginee ring challenges as well as physics questions. Advanced fusion fuels, i n contrast to D-T fuel, produce a smaller fraction of the fusion power as neutrons but have lower fusion reactivity, leading to a trade-off between engineering and physics. This paper examines the critical fusi on engineering issues and related technologies with an eye to their ap plication in tokamak and alternate-concept D-He-3 power plants. These issues include plasma power balance, magnets, surface heat flux, input power, fuel source, radiation damage, radioactive waste disposal, and nuclear proliferation.