New opportunities for fusion in the 21st century - Advanced fuels

It is shown that the long-range goal of the world fusion program can be to generate energy without long-lived radioactive waste and the associated saf ety problems that accompany today's nuclear power sources. This can ultimat ely be accomplished through the He-3-based fusion fuel cycles. This paper c ompares He-3-based fusion fuels with first-generation, D-based fusion fuels and fission. Potential applications of He-3 fusion to radioisotope generat ion, proliferation-resistant electrical power plants, and space propulsion are also discussed.