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Fusion energy: Progress, partnerships, and the path to deployment
Over the past decade, fusion energy has moved decisively from scientific aspiration toward a credible pathway to a new energy technology. Thanks to long-term federal support, we have significantly advanced our fundamental understanding of plasma physics—the behavior of the superheated gases at the heart of fusion devices. This knowledge will enable the creation and control of fusion fuel under conditions required for future power plants. Our progress is exemplified by breakthroughs at the National Ignition Facility and the Joint European Torus.
K. H. Burrell
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 48 | Number 2 | October 2005 | Pages 1021-1041
Technical Paper | DIII-D Tokamak - Achieving Reactor Quality Plasma Confinement | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A1057
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Development of the E × B shear stabilization model to explain the formation of transport barriers in magnetic confinement devices is a major achievement of fusion research. This concept has the universality needed to explain the H-mode edge transport barriers seen in limiter and divertor tokamaks, stellarators, and mirror machines; the broader edge transport barrier seen in VH-mode plasmas; and the core transport barriers formed in tokamaks with low or negative magnetic shear. These examples of confinement improvement are of considerable physical interest; it is not often that a system self-organizes to reduce transport when an additional source of free energy is applied to it. The transport decrease associated with E × B velocity shear is also of great practical benefit to fusion research. The fundamental physics involved in transport reduction is the effect of E × B shear on the growth, radial extent, and phase correlation of turbulent eddies in the plasma. The same basic transport reduction process can be operational in various portions of the plasma because there are a number of ways to change the radial electric field Er. An important theme in this area is the synergistic effect of E × B velocity shear and magnetic shear. Although the E × B velocity shear appears to have an effect on broader classes of microturbulence, magnetic shear can mitigate some potentially harmful effects of E × B velocity shear and facilitate turbulence stabilization. The experimental results on DIII-D and other devices are generally consistent with the basic theoretical models.