  A long-term energy option that is just approaching the horizon after decades
of struggle, is fusion. Recent developments allow us to apply techniques from
spin physics to advance its viability. The cross section for the primary fusion
fuel in a tokamak reactor, D+T=>alpha+n, would be increased by a factor of 1.5
if the fuels were polarized. Simulations predict further non-linear power gains
in large-scale machines such as ITER, due to increased alpha heating. These are
significant enhancements that could lower the requirements needed to reach
ignition and could be used to extend useful reactor life by compensating for
neutron degradation. The potential realization rests on the survival of spin
polarization for periods comparable to the energy containment time. Interest in
polarized fuel options had an initial peak of activity in the 1980s, where
calculations predicted that polarizations could in fact survive a plasma.
However, concerns were raised regarding the cumulative impacts of fuel
recycling from the reactor walls. In addition, the technical challenges of
preparing and handling polarized materials prevented direct tests. Over the
last several decades, this situation has changed dramatically. Detailed
simulations of the ITER plasma have projected negligible wall recycling in a
high power reactor. In addition, a combination of advances in three areas -
polarized material technologies, polymer pellets developed for Inertial
Confinement, and cryogenic injection guns developed for delivering fuel into
the core of tokamaks - have matured to the point where a direct it in situ
measurement is possible. A Jefferson Lab - DIII-D/General Atomics - University
of Virginia collaboration is developing designs for a proof-of-principle
polarization survival experiment using the isospin mirror reaction,
D+3He=>alpha+p, at the DIII-D tokamak in San Diego.
