Fusion Power Plant: Where are we? Where to go?

"Fusion energy, the energy of the universe, is expected to play a key role as a carbon-free green energy in the second half of 21st century. To realize fusion power plants in this century scientific and engineering challenges are still remaining. ITER as a first burning plasma experiment operated by an international organization is going to explore a new regime of high Q where fusion alpha heating is dominating. Operation with high confinement time in long pulse/steady-state is a critical scientific path toward successful burning plasma study. KSTAR(Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research) was built to find the solution for the advanced tokamak regimes with the steady-state capable superconducting device. Another important ITER mission is to make a step toward fusion engineering study by installing TBM(Test Blanket Module) where blanket technology including tritium breeding will be tested for future fusion reactors including DEMO. Other fusion reactor issues such as power handling and material problems are getting more important to proceed for the realization of fusion power plant via Korean DEMO.
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