V. D. Shafranov and Necessary Conditions for Fusion Energy

Abstract

By the presented paper I tried to express my deep appreciation to Vitaly D. Shafranov who was my supervisor, friend and mentor. The great value of his equilibrium theory is widely recognized as one of the pillar of tokamaks. At the same time, it may look like the importance of contribution of founders of tokamak physics is diminishing in favor on new research results and models. The paper shows that this is not the case: after six decades of tokamak fusion, the program is incapable to demonstrate fusion power exceeding the applied plasma heating. In contrast to this situation, the return to fundamentals of tokamak physics suggests much more efficient approach with order of magnitude better confinement, consistent with burning plasma.