The potential for using fusion energy to produce commercial electric power was first explored in the 1950s. Harnessing fusion energy offers the prospect of a nearly carbon-free energy source with a virtually unlimited supply of fuel. Unlike nuclear fission plants, appropriately designed fusion power plants would not produce the large amounts of high-level nuclear waste that requires long-term disposal. Due to these prospects, many nations have initiated research and development (R&D) programs aimed at developing fusion as an energy source. Two R&D approaches are being explored: magnetic fusion energy (MFE) and inertial fusion energy (IFE). An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy describes and assesses the current status of IFE research in the United States; compares the various technical approaches to IFE; and identifies the scientific and engineering challenges associated with developing inertial confinement fusion (ICF) in particular as an energy source. It also provides guidance on an R&D roadmap at the conceptual level for a national program focusing on the design and construction of an inertial fusion energy demonstration plant.

The goal of the Heavy Ion Fusion (HIF) Program is to apply high-current accelerator technology to IFE power production. Ion beams of mass ≈100 amu and kinetic energy {>=} 1 GeV provide efficient energy coupling into matter, and HIF enjoys R&D-supported favorable attributes of: (1) the driver, projected to be robust and efficient; see 'Heavy Ion Accelerator Drivers.'; (2) the targets, which span a continuum from full direct to full indirect drive (and perhaps fast ignition), and have metal exteriors that enable injection at ≈10 Hz; see 'IFE Target Designs'; (3) the near-classical ion energy deposition in the targets; see 'Beam-Plasma Interactions'; (4) the magnetic final lens, robust against damage; see 'Final Optics-Heavy Ion Beams'; and (5) the fusion chamber, which may use neutronically-thick liquids; see 'Liquid-Wall Chambers.' Most studies of HIF power plants have assumed indirect drive and thick liquid wall protection, but other options are possible.

Intense heavy-ion beams have long been considered a promising driver option for inertial-fusion energy production. This paper briefly compares inertial confinement fusion (ICF) to the more-familiar magnetic-confinement approach and presents some advantages of using beams of heavy ions to drive ICF instead of lasers. Key design choices in heavy-ion fusion (HIF) facilities are discussed, particularly the type of accelerator. We then review experiments carried out at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) over the past thirty years to understand various aspects of HIF driver physics. A brief review follows of present HIF research in the US and abroad, focusing on a new facility, NDCX-II, being built at LBNL to study the physics of warm dense matter heated by ions, as well as aspects of HIF target physics. Future research directions are briefly summarized.