Assessment of markets and customers for fusion applications

With the projected cost of electricity from fusion power plant studies continuing to remain higher than that from competing technologies, alternative applications for fusion energy must be re-examined. A complete range of fusion products was investigated to explore common categories of applications and markets served by these products. A methodology based on the success and failure of previous large technology development projects was developed to assess encouraging fusion product applications. This evaluation methodology qualitatively evaluates a complete range of proposed fusion applications in terms of market potential, environmental considerations, economic impact, risk, and public perception in order to concentrate on those applications with the highest potential to best serve humankind while being a successful economic endeavor. The proposed fusion alternate applications are assessed and rank-ordered to concentrate on the more promising products for further in-depth studies.