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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
S. Masuzaki, N. Ashikawa, K. Nishimura, M. Tokitani, T. Hino, Y. Yamauchi, Y. Nobuta, N. Yoshida, M. Miyamoto, A. Sagara, N. Noda, H. Yamada, A. Komori, LHD Experiment Group
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 58 | Number 1 | July-August 2010 | Pages 297-304
Chapter 7. Plasmas-Wall Interactions | Special Issue on Large Helical Device (LHD) | doi.org/10.13182/FST10-A10816
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Wall conditioning in the Large Helical Device (LHD) has been conducted successively since the first experimental campaign in 1998. The effects of wall conditioning on the vacuum condition, the plasma performance, and the surface modification of the plasma-facing components have been analyzed by both macroscopic and microscopic observations such as residual gas analysis and transmission electron microscope observation, respectively. The main tools for the conditioning are mild baking (95°C); glow discharges with hydrogen, helium, and neon; and wall coating with titanium and boron. Though the baking temperature is lower than in other fusion devices, it reduces impurity gases well just after the start of vacuum pumping, and it reduces retained hydrogen in plasma-facing components during the experimental campaign. Helium glow discharge was revealed to cause heavy damage on the surfaces of metallic components and the contamination of the hydrogen discharges with helium released from wall. Neon glow discharge has been conducted since it causes much less damage and hastens the conditioning of the wall. Boronization is very effective to reduce oxygen impurity in plasma, and the effects last for the whole experimental campaign in LHD.