Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear Fusion : The Race to Build a Mini-Sun on Earth (2022) by Sharon Ann Holgate is a short book that provides a overview of nuclear fusion. It’s part of the Hot Science series edited by Brian Clegg. Holgate has a doctorate in Physics and has written a number of popular books on science and a physics textbook.

The book begins with an overview of nuclear physics and describes what fusion is. Then there is a chapter that quickly looks at the z-pinch and then moves on to tokamaks. There is then more on Tokamaks and some detail is given to looking at ITER and Wendelstein 7-X. The next chapter features the NIF and inertial confinement fusion and also General Fusion. There there is more in ITER. There is also a chapter that has a few pages about Fukushima, which is a curious choice for a book about nuclear fusion. There is also a description of the role of robots in in fusion and then finally a description of the progress of fusion and how the race is on to get a working reactor.

The book actually meanders around and tries to cover too much. The book The Future of Fusion Energy covers the topic in more depth and does a better job. The book That Star Builders looks at a number of the current experiments and companies in more detail. A Piece of the Sun cover the history of fusion experiments in more detail. Nuclear Fusion : The Race to Build a Mini-Sun on Earth is the shortest of these books but it’s probably going to be confusing to anyone as a popular book on fusion.

Star Chambers

Star Chambers : The Race for Fusion Power (2012 – updated edition 2020) by Melanie Windridge is an introduction to nuclear fusion that’s aimed at at 14-18 year olds. Dr Windridge is a fusion researcher and science communicator who consults with the fusion startup Tokomak Energy.

The book started as a series of blog posts about Windridge’s speaking engagements for the Institute of Physics. Each chapter has a description of travelling to somewhere in the UK for a presentation. It adds a chatty, light touch to the book. Each chapter then explains in a basic way some aspect of fusion.

The book also has extensive illustrations. It also can’t be read on a Kindle and requires a Kindle app running on a device.

It seems like it would be a good introduction to fusion for a teenager or younger child who has become interested in the field. Fusion is a hard subject to write in a popular physics way. The basics are fairly straightforward but then it becomes apparent that the reasons why tokomaks work and how they work requires deep knowledge, mathematical and physics skill and considerable study.

Star Chambers isn’t bad. It does what it sets out to do. For adults, The Future of Fusion Energy or A Piece of the Sun are better books, but Star Chambers is well worth a look for anyone interested in fusion who wants to get a quick overview.

Fusion : Science, Politics and the Invention of a New Energy Source

Fusion : Science, Politics, and the Invention of a New Energy Source (1985) by Joan Bromberg is an interesting, detailed history of US fusion research up until the 1980s.

The book is very valuable because it provides such a detailed history of early fusion research. Bromberg goes into the personalities and the institutions that worked on fusion. She conveys how optimistic people were about fusion power in the 1950s and in decades beyond. She also details the way that the way fusion research programs changed when the optimism declined. It’s interesting to look at that now that there is again considerable optimism about fusion research.

The scientific descriptions are fairly thin, the value of the book is in the compilation of the historical record of fusion research.

For anyone who is really interested in fusion research or science history this book is definitely valuable. As an introduction to fusion overall  ‘The Future of Fusion Energy’ and ‘A Piece of the Sun’ would be better.

The Future of Fusion Energy

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.

Sun in a Bottle

Sun in a Bottle (2008) by Charles Seife looks at the history of fusion research. Seife starts with a look at nuclear weapons and leads into the development of various attempts to generate power with fusion.

The book looks at how Stellarators and then Tokomaks and various other devices have attempted to achieve fusion. Seife also gives considerable coverage to claims of fusion that have been shown to be false. First the claims of Richter in Argentina, then Cold Fusion and then bubble fusion. Seife was a reporter for science when the bubble fusion claims broke.

Finally ITER’s slow progress is described and Seife ends oddly with a conclusion that self-deception is a major part of fusion research. It’s not a strong ending. Sun in a Bottle isn’t a bad book, but the book A Piece of the Sun is definitely a better history of fusion. However, there is still a lot of interesting information about fusion research in the book.