Open Letter to Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director-General, International Atomic Energy Agency

December 11, 2023

Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director-General
International Atomic Energy Agency
Vienna International Centre, PO Box 100
A-1400 Vienna, Austria

Via Fax: +43-1 2600-7 and postal mail

Dear Dr. Grossi,

The IAEA is world-renowned for its objectivity and scientific integrity. This is an essential part of its foundation because of the important and trusted role the IAEA plays to oversee nuclear activities and nuclear safety worldwide.

Therefore, I believe it would be appropriate to make corrections to two IAEA Web pages that are publishing misleading claims about nuclear fusion.

The first Web page is “Fusion – Frequently Asked Questions” at this url: https://www.iaea.org/topics/energy/fusion/faqs

Statement 1: “Its two sources of fuel, hydrogen and lithium, are widely available in many parts of the Earth.”

The two fuel materials needed for most fusion reactors are deuterium and tritium, not hydrogen and lithium. Deuterium is not widely available, but it can be extracted from water, which is widely available. Tritium is not available anywhere on Earth as a natural resource. It is available (outside of military activities) only as a by-product of several aging and soon-to-be decommissioned heavy-water fission reactors.

Designers of DT fusion reactors have known for more than 50 years that tritium is and will not available to provide fuel for fusion reactors. Throughout this time, they have planned to use a secondary (in fact, fission) reaction inside fusion reactors to breed tritium. However, according to the best experts in the field, as published in the IAEA publication Nuclear Fusion, there is no known method to breed tritium in a fusion reactor fast enough. [1]

Moreover, natural lithium will not work in these reactors. Lithium enriched in the Li-6 isotope, ranging from 30% to 90% enrichment, must be used. However, according to the best experts in the field, there is no known legal and environmentally benign method to enrich lithium in the amounts needed for fusion reactors. [2,3]

There are many, many technical challenges that must be solved before fusion can possibly be a viable source of energy. But the fact is, as of now, a) half of the required fuel (tritium) does not exist as a natural resource, b) the required method to enrich lithium-6 does not exist, and c) even it if did, the required method to breed tritium fast enough does not exist. For these reasons, it is most accurate to say that, as of now, the fuel needed for D-T fusion as an energy source does not exist.

Statement 2: “A fusion reactor produces helium, which is an inert gas. It also produces and consumes tritium within the plant in a closed circuit.”

This statement conflates the hopes of fusion scientists with the reality of fusion science. No fusion reactor produces, or has ever produced tritium in a closed circuit. The statement is also contradicted by the known facts about lithium-6 enrichment and tritium breeding, as discussed above.

Statement 3: “When is electricity generated through fusion expected to be available? At present, fusion devices produce more than ten megawatts of fusion power. ITER will be capable of producing 500 megawatts of fusion power. Although this will be on the scale needed for a power station, there are still some technological issues to address before a commercial power plant can operate.”

This is an extremely misleading and deceptive question and answer pair. It misleads the reader to think that a) present fusion devices produce more than ten megawatts of potentially usable power, b) that any fusion device has produced any potentially usable power, and c) that ITER will be capable of producing 500 megawatts of potentially usable power. Yes, this type of language has been normal among fusion scientists. Yes, all fusion scientists know that “fusion power” means only the power balance across the fusion plasma, not across the overall reactor. But the audience for this question-and-answer is not fusion experts.

I have had this conversation with directors of some of the largest fusion research organizations in the world, including the present director-general of the ITER organization. They have agreed that the older language required correction. Please see this Web page: https://news.newenergytimes.net/2020/09/26/correction-log-of-false-misleading-iter-claims

The second Web page is “Basic Fusion Physics” at this url: https://www.iaea.org/topics/energy/fusion/background

Statement 4: “On earth, the potential advantages of energy by controlled nuclear fusion are manifold: Limitless energy production, available all over the world, not subject to local or seasonal variations.”

As explained above, the fuel for fusion does not presently exist. Thus, this statement is entirely false.

Please let me know if you intend to make corrections.

Sincerely,
Steven Krivit
Publisher, New Energy Times

 

REFERENCES

1. Mohamed Abdou, Marco Riva, Alice Ying, Christian Day, Alberto Loarte, L.R. Baylor, Paul Humrickhouse, Thomas F. Fuerst, and Seungyon Cho, “Physics and Technology Considerations for the Deuterium-Tritium Fuel Cycle and Conditions for Tritium Fuel Self-Sufficiency,” (Nov. 23, 2020) Nuclear Fusion, 61(1)
2. Ault, Tim, Brozek, Krzysztof, Fan, Lingchen, Folsom, Micah, Kim, Joshua and Zeismer, Joshua, “Lithium Isotope Enrichment: Feasible Domestic Enrichment Alternatives,” Department of 4. Nuclear Engineering University of California, Berkeley, Report #UCBTH-12-005, May 5, 2012
3. Giegerich, T., Battes, K., Schwenzer, J.C. and Day, C., “Development Of A Viable Route For Lithium-6 Supply Of Demo And Future Fusion Power Plants,” Fusion Engineering and Design, (149) Dec. 2019, 111339