Research Roadblocks

Managing heat fluxes exceeding 10 MW/m² at the divertor. Liquid metal and advanced tungsten concepts are being explored.

Edge-Localized Modes (ELMs) cause periodic bursts of energy that erode plasma-facing components. Resonant magnetic perturbations and pellet injection are promising but incomplete.

Developing materials that can withstand 14 MeV neutron bombardment for the reactor first wall. Current candidates include tungsten and RAFM steels, but degradation under irradiation remains unsolved.

Scaling REBCO high-temperature superconductor magnets to reactor size while maintaining field strength >20T. Critical for compact fusion reactor designs.

Sustaining H-mode plasma confinement beyond 300 seconds with acceptable energy loss. Current record is ~1000s in tokamaks but not at reactor-relevant parameters.

Controlling plasma disruptions and MHD instabilities remains one of the most critical challenges. Uncontrolled disruptions can damage reactor components and halt operations.

Managing the complex interactions between the plasma edge and reactor wall materials. Impurity transport, sputtering, and redeposition affect both plasma performance and wall lifetime.

Developing validated models for plasma turbulence that can predict transport at reactor scale. Current gyrokinetic simulations are computationally expensive and not fully validated.

Achieving net energy gain (Q > 1) when accounting for all engineering systems, not just plasma physics. Requires simultaneous solutions to multiple other roadblocks.

Achieving a tritium breeding ratio greater than 1 is essential for fuel self-sufficiency. No breeding blanket design has been validated experimentally at reactor scale.