SITUACIÓN ACTUAL, DESAFÍOS Y PERSPECTIVAS DE LA FUSIÓN NUCLEAR CONTROLADA: LA TECNOLOGÍA

Abstract

This article objectively discusses the potential of development of nuclear fusion as a profitable energy source for the society of the future. After a brief exposition treating the physical foundations on which nuclear fusion is based – that are known for a century -, attention is drawn to the formidable difficulties that have been encountered when trying its practical implementation in a controlled device, and to the different proposals for reactors which have been conceived with the aim of overcoming them and demonstrate its scientific-technical feasibility. Information is provided regarding the most relevant (public and private) projects that are currently being developed in this field, which exhibits a situation characterized by the strong irruption of private initiative in recent years, and by diversification in terms of concepts and reactor designs, without it being clear at the moment which solution will prevail in the commercial stage, or whether the path to that goal will be completed by several models that will coexist. It is estimated that, in the most optimistic case and thanks to the impetus given by private initiative, the first commercial fusion energy plants could be available in the 2040s, making it plausible that public-private collaboration mechanisms will proliferate. The enormous advantages that this resource would bring to society are pointed, taking account of its virtues as a clean, safe, almost unlimited and cheap energy. This article will be continued by another devoted to exploring the economic viability of fusion technology, assuming the high level of uncertainty associated with both the vagueness of the details in the design and operation of the plants, as well as the lack of knowledge in the energy environment, economic and social in the coming years. Keywords: energy sources, energy prospective, energy technology, controlled nuclear fusion, energy economics, decarbonization.