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Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
T. Loarer, Tore Supra Team
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 3 | October 2009 | Pages 1300-1317
Technical Papers | Tore Supra Special Issue | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A9179
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tore Supra is a superconducting limiter tokamak designed for long and high-power discharges. In its initial phase, the plasma density control was handled by a set of seven modular limiters (total area [approximately]1.5 m2) equipped with pumps. An inner wall ([approximately]10 m2), covered with actively cooled carbon tiles, was used to handle high-power discharges. An ergodic divertor (ED), composed of six modules, was installed on the low-field side to create a stochastic edge layer for enhancing the edge radiation; all the modules were equipped with neutralizer plates and a pumping system. The performances, in terms of pumping capabilities and density control, are reported for the modular pump limiters and the ED modules, equipped with neutralizer plates for particle collection. Throat and vented geometries, respectively collecting ions and neutrals, were tested for the modular limiters and the ED. After 12 years of operation, a major upgrade (Composants Internes et Limiteur project) resulted in the replacement of all these plasma-facing components by a flat toroidal pump limiter (total area [approximately]7.6 m2) actively cooled and located at the bottom of the machine. Long discharges (6 min) with high energy input (>1.0 GJ) have been performed repetitively, in steady-state conditions.