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The Future Of Fusion Energy
'The text provides an interesting history of previous and anticipated accomplishments, ending with a chapter on the relationship of fusion power to nuclear weaponry. They conclude on an optimistic note, well worth being understood by the general public.'CHOICEThe gap between the state of fusion energy research and public understanding is vast. In an entertaining and engaging narrative, this popular science book gives readers the basic tools to understand how fusion works, its potential, and contemporary research problems.Written by two young researchers in the field, The Future of Fusion Energy explains how physical laws and the Earth's energy resources motivate the current fusion program — a program that is approaching a critical point. The world's largest science project and biggest ever fusion reactor, ITER, is nearing completion. Its success could trigger a worldwide race to build a power plant, but failure could delay fusion by decades. To these ends, this book details how ITER's results could be used to design an economically competitive power plant as well as some of the many alternative fusion concepts.
406 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 22, 2019
There is no doubt that fusion, the power source of the Sun, has the potential to be a significant contributor to our future energy needs. It's clean, green and continuous, able to fill in the gaps where wind and solar simply can't deliver. It uses cheap fuel and doesn't produce much in the way of nasty waste. And it can't undergo any sort of runaway reaction. So it's certainly a worthy topic for a popular science title. This book covers one aspect of fusion power - tokamak reactors - in great depth for a relatively non-technical book. But as we will see, it will only really work for a limited audience.
You won't necessarily realise it from the cover, which I interpreted as emphasising that Homer Simpson will still have a job when Springfield Energy converts to fusion power, but Jason Parisi and Justin Ball have packed The Future of Fusion Energy with information on the detail of how fusion reactors work, and all the difficulties that are faced in getting a stable, lasting fusion reaction going. It's not an easy task, which is why it has taken so long. The authors say in their introduction 'Despite popular conception, fusion science and technology has made remarkable progress, compared to other fast-moving fields.' Really? This is a technology that in the 1960s was expected to be providing us cheap power within 30 years. Now, 60 years later... it's still good 30 years away from the likelihood of making a serious contribution to our electricity needs. What other 'fast-moving field' has those kinds of timescales?
Nonetheless, fusion is potentially highly important for the future of our energy supply. So should everyone read this book? Probably not. I suspect that it is an ideal source book either for journalists wanting to write about fusion, or students with an essay to compose. The first 260 pages provide a reference fact book on tokamak reactors. It's an excellent resource - but not a great read. There's important stuff in here on how the reactors work and don't work. And there's a useful section on the history of fusion reactors and on the building of the next generation ITER machine. But there's no narrative to it, just fact after fact. Only in that historical/ITER part and the final section where we see alternative options for fusion do we get anything that feels like popular science.
That's not to say that the fact sections aren't useful. Apart from lots of technical background, the section on ITER is salutary. This is a huge international project, which seems fraught with organisational problems. Unlike the building of the Large Hadron Collider - another huge international project that was relatively well managed (see CERN and the Higgs Boson), ITER looks like a textbook case of how not to manage a large project. One example that Parisi and Ball give is the way that parts of the reactor are being manufactured by different countries, leading to potential difficulties. As they comment about the fact that seven of the sections of the reaction vessel are being made in Europe and two in Korea: 'it caused uproar when word arrived at the ITER site that the Europeans were designing their sections to bolted together, while the South Koreans expected theirs to welded. From a project management standpoint, this boggles the mind.' Quite.
As far as I'm aware the technical content of the book is fine, though there was an odd part where the authors assess alternative means of electricity generation and point out that biomass is at least 20 times less efficient at converting sun power into electricity than solar… but still seem to advocate using it. That's odd.
Overall, a great source book for information on fusion, but not a great read. If you do persevere to the end, you will discover that the doughnuts on the cover are not a reference to Homer Simpson at all, but an obscure analogy for different means of producing fusion in the form of recipes for alternative types of sweet doughy products... though I found the analogy itself hard to follow. In a way, this sums the book up. The authors try to inject humour, which is great, but it needs much more narrative flow (and rather less detail) to work for a general reader.
You won't necessarily realise it from the cover, which I interpreted as emphasising that Homer Simpson will still have a job when Springfield Energy converts to fusion power, but Jason Parisi and Justin Ball have packed The Future of Fusion Energy with information on the detail of how fusion reactors work, and all the difficulties that are faced in getting a stable, lasting fusion reaction going. It's not an easy task, which is why it has taken so long. The authors say in their introduction 'Despite popular conception, fusion science and technology has made remarkable progress, compared to other fast-moving fields.' Really? This is a technology that in the 1960s was expected to be providing us cheap power within 30 years. Now, 60 years later... it's still good 30 years away from the likelihood of making a serious contribution to our electricity needs. What other 'fast-moving field' has those kinds of timescales?
Nonetheless, fusion is potentially highly important for the future of our energy supply. So should everyone read this book? Probably not. I suspect that it is an ideal source book either for journalists wanting to write about fusion, or students with an essay to compose. The first 260 pages provide a reference fact book on tokamak reactors. It's an excellent resource - but not a great read. There's important stuff in here on how the reactors work and don't work. And there's a useful section on the history of fusion reactors and on the building of the next generation ITER machine. But there's no narrative to it, just fact after fact. Only in that historical/ITER part and the final section where we see alternative options for fusion do we get anything that feels like popular science.
That's not to say that the fact sections aren't useful. Apart from lots of technical background, the section on ITER is salutary. This is a huge international project, which seems fraught with organisational problems. Unlike the building of the Large Hadron Collider - another huge international project that was relatively well managed (see CERN and the Higgs Boson), ITER looks like a textbook case of how not to manage a large project. One example that Parisi and Ball give is the way that parts of the reactor are being manufactured by different countries, leading to potential difficulties. As they comment about the fact that seven of the sections of the reaction vessel are being made in Europe and two in Korea: 'it caused uproar when word arrived at the ITER site that the Europeans were designing their sections to bolted together, while the South Koreans expected theirs to welded. From a project management standpoint, this boggles the mind.' Quite.
As far as I'm aware the technical content of the book is fine, though there was an odd part where the authors assess alternative means of electricity generation and point out that biomass is at least 20 times less efficient at converting sun power into electricity than solar… but still seem to advocate using it. That's odd.
Overall, a great source book for information on fusion, but not a great read. If you do persevere to the end, you will discover that the doughnuts on the cover are not a reference to Homer Simpson at all, but an obscure analogy for different means of producing fusion in the form of recipes for alternative types of sweet doughy products... though I found the analogy itself hard to follow. In a way, this sums the book up. The authors try to inject humour, which is great, but it needs much more narrative flow (and rather less detail) to work for a general reader.
January 28, 2021
Since I am interested in a book that acquaints a layman like me on nuclear fusion, this is an excellent choice.
The book starts with an exposition of the present and future energy needs of humanity, contemplating the possible options: fossil fuels, renewables, and nuclear fission and fusion.
Then it exposes the physical principles and each of the technologies -both of which are many- involved in obtaining fusion energy. It is certainly a very, very complex (and expensive) issue. It should be noted that nuclear fusion -the energy from the sun - has been achieved artificially for more than half a century, with the fusion bombs. "Simply" it is a question of being able to lock up this force and use it for peaceful purposes.
So I realize that it is a very difficult subject to explain for a curious reader without specialized knowledge like me, but I think the book more than succeeds in doing so, with very didactic and understandable explanations -considering the complexity of the matter- and with the help of ingenious metaphors and also also some really funny comments.
Finally, the book also deals with the issue of fusion reactors as the energy that in the future can greatly facilitate space travel throughout the solar system.
Without a doubt the fusion energy itself is an achievable goal, it is only a matter of investment in research, time and also of political will, for example if the great international project ITER can be achieved (planned for 2025). We will have to be patient then, because without a doubt this must be the energy that meets the needs of humanity in the future, if there is a future...
The book starts with an exposition of the present and future energy needs of humanity, contemplating the possible options: fossil fuels, renewables, and nuclear fission and fusion.
Then it exposes the physical principles and each of the technologies -both of which are many- involved in obtaining fusion energy. It is certainly a very, very complex (and expensive) issue. It should be noted that nuclear fusion -the energy from the sun - has been achieved artificially for more than half a century, with the fusion bombs. "Simply" it is a question of being able to lock up this force and use it for peaceful purposes.
So I realize that it is a very difficult subject to explain for a curious reader without specialized knowledge like me, but I think the book more than succeeds in doing so, with very didactic and understandable explanations -considering the complexity of the matter- and with the help of ingenious metaphors and also also some really funny comments.
Finally, the book also deals with the issue of fusion reactors as the energy that in the future can greatly facilitate space travel throughout the solar system.
Without a doubt the fusion energy itself is an achievable goal, it is only a matter of investment in research, time and also of political will, for example if the great international project ITER can be achieved (planned for 2025). We will have to be patient then, because without a doubt this must be the energy that meets the needs of humanity in the future, if there is a future...
September 2, 2019
The Future of Fusion Energy (2018) by Jason Parisi and Justin Ball is a really excellent overview of research into nuclear fusion and its potential as an energy source to power humanity. Parisi is a PhD student at Oxford studying fusion plasmas and Ball is a researcher on plasma shaping in tokomaks so both are ideally placed to write about fusion. The two were recently interviewed on the excellent Omega Tau podcast on this topic and the book and for anyone wondering if the book would interest them listening to this podcast would be a great place to start. They have also been interviewed on the Physical Attraction podcast. The book is a fine example of popular science with some depth. It's more like The Code Book than the Tao of Physics.
The book starts by looking at different possibilities for energy sources. Here different renewables, fossil fuels and nuclear fission are compared. The authors point out that all these energy sources have serious drawbacks and that fusion would be an ideal additional energy source.
The Fundamental of Fusion Energy are then carefully examined and an explanation of how much energy is released by different fusion fuels and the requirements for each to provide that energy is described.
Different techniques for plasma confinement via magnetic, electric and electrostatics are then outlined. The authors go on to give excellent descriptions of magnetic surfaces, turbulence and the Lawson Criteria for achieving fusion.
Further descriptions of magnetic fusion technology are next, with magnets, neutral beams, divertors and all manner of other technologies described. Parisi and Ball then write a brief history of fusion research. Then an in depth description of ITER is given.
Next a description of a formula for the design of a tokomak is given, describing how to maximise the power produced by altering the device's size, magnetic fields and other parameters.
There is a section on Alternative Approaches to Fusion Energy that includes Stellarators, Inertial Confinement devices and where the authors describe the progress and prospects of various fusion startups including Tokomak Energy, TAE, LPP and CFS. The role of fusion for space exploration is also given some attention.
Finally the book wraps up by pointing out that fusion technology is probably a certain amount of research spending away, rather than a fixed time.
The Future of Fusion Energy is almost certainly the best overview of fusion around for any layman. The detail provided in the book is really fascinating for anyone interested in the enormous potential of fusion energy. The history section isn't quite as good as the book 'A Piece of the Sun' but the book's description of modern fusion research and tokomaks is second to none.
The book starts by looking at different possibilities for energy sources. Here different renewables, fossil fuels and nuclear fission are compared. The authors point out that all these energy sources have serious drawbacks and that fusion would be an ideal additional energy source.
The Fundamental of Fusion Energy are then carefully examined and an explanation of how much energy is released by different fusion fuels and the requirements for each to provide that energy is described.
Different techniques for plasma confinement via magnetic, electric and electrostatics are then outlined. The authors go on to give excellent descriptions of magnetic surfaces, turbulence and the Lawson Criteria for achieving fusion.
Further descriptions of magnetic fusion technology are next, with magnets, neutral beams, divertors and all manner of other technologies described. Parisi and Ball then write a brief history of fusion research. Then an in depth description of ITER is given.
Next a description of a formula for the design of a tokomak is given, describing how to maximise the power produced by altering the device's size, magnetic fields and other parameters.
There is a section on Alternative Approaches to Fusion Energy that includes Stellarators, Inertial Confinement devices and where the authors describe the progress and prospects of various fusion startups including Tokomak Energy, TAE, LPP and CFS. The role of fusion for space exploration is also given some attention.
Finally the book wraps up by pointing out that fusion technology is probably a certain amount of research spending away, rather than a fixed time.
The Future of Fusion Energy is almost certainly the best overview of fusion around for any layman. The detail provided in the book is really fascinating for anyone interested in the enormous potential of fusion energy. The history section isn't quite as good as the book 'A Piece of the Sun' but the book's description of modern fusion research and tokomaks is second to none.
April 3, 2025
This is a very comprehensive review of both the technical and political aspects of current fusion development. The technical sections give a fantastic overview of the biggest problems faced by fusion researchers and are accessible to a non-technical audience while also going into depth that is useful for those who have studied electricity and magnetism in depth. The political sections give a quick overview of the history of fusion research and then dive a bit deeper into the details of the ITER project. A perfect mix of technical detail and storytelling, this book is an AMAZING read.
November 17, 2024
Best popular science book I’ve ever read. It’s a really great way to get your plasma vocabulary better and know what things to look up when lost. Though some parts were too technical (for popular science — I enjoyed them) and some not technical enough, overall the book struck an amazing balance between technical and not technical. The footnotes were almost always helpful and interesting too.
Even though some parts were a bit dry and textbook-y I do think anyone with even a small interest in plasma/fusion physics would enjoy this book. If you get to a dry patch, push through, it’s worth it!
Even though some parts were a bit dry and textbook-y I do think anyone with even a small interest in plasma/fusion physics would enjoy this book. If you get to a dry patch, push through, it’s worth it!
February 4, 2023
Some say you could or even should drop the ”popular” from the popular science, but I feel the book struck a nearly perfect balance between science and entertainment. There were many jewels among the chapters (the overview of the energy landscape was a perfect and relevant way to start) and just one that didn’t feel very relevant, namely the history of ITER. While this might be interesting from a political perspective, it was a bit off with the rest of the book. The final chapter on scifi/space travel, OTOH, hit my nerd nerve like a super velocity neutron from a tokamak.
Strong recommendation if you’re into this kind of science, or just interested in what the future of energy production might have in store for us.
Strong recommendation if you’re into this kind of science, or just interested in what the future of energy production might have in store for us.
October 5, 2023
This book is dense. Decent portions of it read like a text book, but at the end of the day that's largely what I was looking for. I loved the sections where Jason and Matt take a fundamentals approach to explaining topics and problems that they might not necessarily be experts in (such as operating the grid with only renewables), as it exposes the kind of analytical machinery that powers their work. The parts where they go into fields they actually are experts on, such as fusion plasma turbulence, do not disappoint either. It is slow to read and some of the equations I skimmed over, as any reasonable person will, but if you read most of it seriously you will legitimately understand a lot about fusion and particularly how Tokamaks work by the end.
May 16, 2023
While this book is probably too technical for popular science, it has a lot to recommend it. The overview of humanity's energy sources is a great summary of information, the historical sections are fun, and the main reason I read it was that the description of the current state of fusion technology is allegedly excellent. While they make an interesting argument about the development of the technology, overall I get the sense that fusion will not be practical anytime in the near future due to the number of steps that have yet to be truly explored.
August 23, 2023
This book is brilliant. It delivers vast information on fusion in a way that is easy to digest and mathematically not too rigorous. It gives an excellent overview of the need for fusion and how a tokamak works and is complete with plenty of diagrams to help illustrate how one works as well as design intentions to circumvent flaws. Also covers alternative methods to fusion and a brief dive into fusion engines and why they are important. Would recommend!
February 5, 2022
Great Technical Book
Targeted at laymen who are curious about all the intricate details of fusion. It’s a very complex space, so there is a lot of interesting detail. Many parts of a fusion reactor push the limits of human understanding abs technology, from plasma turbulence to support conducting magnets. It’s no wonder this takes so long
Targeted at laymen who are curious about all the intricate details of fusion. It’s a very complex space, so there is a lot of interesting detail. Many parts of a fusion reactor push the limits of human understanding abs technology, from plasma turbulence to support conducting magnets. It’s no wonder this takes so long
January 27, 2025
Great introduction to Fusion technology. Helped me brush up on nuclear physics, E and M, and has sparked an interest in fusion reactors for me. This is an important technology to develop for the future of humanity. There is so many ways that fusion can be improved that I have no doubt that it will be economically viable within our lifetimes.
December 24, 2024
Somehow one short bit of text convinced me that fusion is not only viable, but plausible? DNF, but I still strongly recommend it to people.
February 11, 2021
TL;DR: This is probably the best book I have ever read although An Indispensable Truth: How Fusion Power Can Save the Planet would certainly be a close second. I really cannot recommend it enough. Furthermore, the books is very accessible as there are no mathematical derivations and the science is well explained that I believe it would be understandable to anyone with a high school physics education. I hope it achieves the wide readership it deserves.
The book explains the current state of the field of fusion energy (along with a whistlestop tour of the history for context), taking time to explain the scientific principles (i.e. basics of plasma physics) and yet also leaving room for ample discussion of the technologies involved (in particular the tokamak is discussed at length with a focus on what we can expect from ITER).
There are excellent explanations of the current challenges facing the field and yet also why we should feel optimistic - while any single challenge can seem daunting, we only need to solve a few of them to get within the parameter space of a working fusion plant and the chances of all such challenges remaining unsolved across so many disparate fields seems unlikely.
The books also explores less mainstream fusion technologies such as the Dense Plasma Focus pursued by LPP and various spherical tokamak and magnetised target fusion systems pursued by other private companies and there is even a small chapter exploring the use of fusion energy for interstellar space travel.
So when will we get fusion power on the grid? Well, to quote the book itself:
The book explains the current state of the field of fusion energy (along with a whistlestop tour of the history for context), taking time to explain the scientific principles (i.e. basics of plasma physics) and yet also leaving room for ample discussion of the technologies involved (in particular the tokamak is discussed at length with a focus on what we can expect from ITER).
There are excellent explanations of the current challenges facing the field and yet also why we should feel optimistic - while any single challenge can seem daunting, we only need to solve a few of them to get within the parameter space of a working fusion plant and the chances of all such challenges remaining unsolved across so many disparate fields seems unlikely.
The books also explores less mainstream fusion technologies such as the Dense Plasma Focus pursued by LPP and various spherical tokamak and magnetised target fusion systems pursued by other private companies and there is even a small chapter exploring the use of fusion energy for interstellar space travel.
So when will we get fusion power on the grid? Well, to quote the book itself:
The proximity to economically viable fusion power should not be measured in years - it should be measured in dollars.
March 14, 2021
Great overview of nuclear fusion - it's history, potential and challenges that need to be overcome to build a working power plant.
December 10, 2023
I’d have liked more time with fusion power varieties and less time with nuclear weapons.
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