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The theoretical attractions of fusion are clear: used as fuel in a fusion power plant, the lithium in one laptop battery together with 40 litres of water would produce 200,000 kW hours of electricity in an environmentally benign manner. The Joint European Torus (JET), which has produced 16MW, has shown that fusion can work in practice. ITER (the International Tokamak Experimental Reactor) is now essential to test integration of the components at the heart of a fusion reactor, and confirm that a burning plasma, in a fusion device scaled up in all dimensions by a factor of two from JET, to power plant size, has the expected behaviour. ITER should confirm that a fusion power plant can be built. The challenge will then be to build a power plant that would be sufficiently reliable and robust to be economically viable. This will require intensive research and development on the materials needed to construct the plasma vessel and surrounding blanket. These materials will have to be tested under reactor conditions at a dedicated facility called IFMIF (International Fusion Materials Facility). Construction of IFMIF in parallel with ITER would put fusion firmly on the 'fast track' (strongly advocated by the British Government) to the construction of a commercial fusion power plant, which could in principle be in operation within 30 years. I shall describe how a fusion power plant would work, the advantages and disadvantages of fusion, and the challenges that lie ahead.
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