Advancing Safe and Sustainable Fusion Energy: Nuclear Physics Insights for Next-Generation Reactor Engineering

Abstract

Background: Fusion energy has the potential of becoming safe, sustainable, and essentially endless source of power as it seeks to imitate the methods of stellar nucleosynthesis. But turning this promise into working energy systems is still dogged by the complexity of nuclear and engineering issues. Nuclear physics builds on the necessary insight to conquer these obstacles by meticulous modeling of energy discharge interaction, the interaction between neutrons, and materials reaction.

Objective: The paper examines the role that nuclear physics plays in the development of the next-generation fusion reactors in terms of their improved safety, sustainability, and energy efficiency.

Method: A systematic review of literature was performed during 2021-2025 involving compilation of experimental data, nuclear model and engineering design processes. The areas of primary interest were cross-sections of fusion reactions, confinement issues, neutron transport, tritium breeding facilities and high-energy neutron materials.

Results: The result indicates that none of the proposed fusion reactions stand as the most viable in the short-term since D-T fusion advantages include good cross-sections and energy production, although aneutronic fuels are becoming popular, such as D-He3 or p-B11. Nuclear modeling and diagnostics carry a lot of weight concerning confinement performance and radiation-resistant materials. Sub-critical tritium breeding systems are being optimized and neutron shielding is being optimized using nuclear transport simulations so far as to guarantee both self-sufficiency and safety of the reactor.

Conclusion: The infeasibility of fusion energy systems can be greatly addressed by combining nuclear physics with the engineering of reactors. Such interdisciplinary knowledge is what will be needed to shift experimental fusion into scalable commercial power generation.