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60 Years of U: Perspectives on resources, demand, and the evolving role of nuclear energy
Recent years have seen growing global interest in nuclear energy and rising confidence in the sector. For the first time since the early 2000s, there is renewed optimism about the industry’s future. This change is driven by several major factors: geopolitical developments that highlight the need for secure energy supplies, a stronger focus on resilient energy systems, national commitments to decarbonization, and rising demand for clean and reliable electricity.
D. J. Meeker, J. H. Hammer, C. W. Hartman
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 8 | Number 1 | July 1985 | Pages 1191-1197
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology | Proceedings of the Sixth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (San Francisco, California, March 3-7, 1985) | doi.org/10.13182/FST85-A39929
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We discuss the possibility of achieving energy, power and power density necessary for ICF by magnetically accelerating plasma confined by a compact torus (CT) field configuration. The CT, which consists of a dipole (poloidal) field and imbedded toroidal field formed by force-free, plasma current, is compressed and accelerated between coaxial electrodes by Bθ fields as in a coaxial rail-gun. Compression and acceleration over several meters by a 9.4 MJ capacitor bank is predicted to give a 5.7 cm radius, 0.001 gm CT 5 MJ kinetic energy (107 m/sec). Transport and focussing several meters by a disposable lithium pipe across the containment vessel is predicted to bring 4.8 MJ into the pellet region in 0.5 cm2 area in 0.3 ns. The high efficiency (∼ 50%) and high energy delivery of the CT accelerator could lead to low cost, few hundred MW power plants that are economically viable.
