Guest editorial: The state of fusion

Abstract

The United States controlled thermonuclear research program has made great advances in the past few years, and plasma scientists can be justifiably proud of their contributions. The heuristic approaches of 20 years ago led to the rapid development of plasma production and heating techniques, and to the attainment of reactor level plasma densities in the 1950's and thermonuclear temperatures in the early 1960's. Since then the program has matured considerably with improved understanding of associated plasma problems. Following the identification of a host of macro-and micro-plasma instabilities, plasma confinement times began to increase markedly in the mid-1960's. And in the 1970's the relationship between plasma theory and experiment has grown even healthier, with experiments designed according to theory actually behaving as predicted. These recent successes have led to the prediction that the scientific feasibility of net power production from fusion might be demonstrated even before 1980, with the commercial application of fusion power following around the turn of the century.