Second International Working Symposium on the Technology of Thermonuclear Reactors

Abstract

1. The symposium demonstrated that the problem of the creation of a thermonuclear reactor is not restricted to tasks of thermal insulation and the heating of plasma. There exists a wide range of tasks associated with the development of large magnet systems and heavy-duty power supplies, with phenomena on the wall of the reactor, with the radiation resistance of materials, and with the necessity of protecting superconducting materials, of producing tritium, and of removing heat from the reactor. For the resolution of these problems 5–10 years are needed. 2. Abroad (especially in the USA, but also in Germany and Great Britain) an extensive program of investigation is being conducted. The large number of participants is witness to this fact (there were more than 120 persons from the USA, representing 11 universities, 10 experimental centers, and 8 firms). 3. At the symposium the results of a previously outlined study of various aspects of the toroidal reactor (tokamak and stellarator) were discussed and of reactors based on the toroidal θ-pinch and the open trap. 4. The thermonuclear reactor seemed to the participants of the symposium to be optimal in the sense of its influence on the surrounding environment and to be an economically acceptable alternative to the resolution of the problems of power engineering in the future.