Nuclear fusion is a technology of the future, which could potentially become an important source of energy. However, it also bears proliferation risks, since it is possible to skim the militarily relevant tritium and weapons-grade fissile material.
The foundations for the commercial usage of fusion energy are currently investigated at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Therefore, its member states, namely the nuclear powers China, France, Great Britain, India, Russia and the United States of America as well as the EU non-nuclear weapons states, Japan and South Korea, are the first ones to be confronted with the question of proliferation.
The existing set of safeguard regulations issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) provides a good basis to ensure the peaceful usage, but it is not yet applicable to the technology of nuclear fusion. In HSFK-Report 7/2013 "Safeguarding Fusion Reactors. Plädoyer für eine proliferationsresistente Gestaltung der Kernfusion", Giorgio Franceschini and Matthias Englert thus plead in favour of undertaking the necessary legal and technical adjustment processes in order to rule out military use of fusion reactors in the future.
Matthias Englert is a research associate with the interdisciplinary research group "Interdisziplinäre Arbeitsgruppe Naturwissenschaft, Technik und Sicherheit" (IANUS) at Technical University Darmstadt.
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