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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. Youngblood, C. Alford, S. Bhandarkar, J. Hayes, K. Moreno, A. Nikroo, H. Xu
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 59 | Number 1 | January 2011 | Pages 126-132
Technical Paper | Nineteenth Target Fabrication Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST10-3692
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Sputter coating of beryllium on spherical mandrels has been used at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and at General Atomics to produce graded, copper doped beryllium shells. While these coatings have consistent microstructure and acceptable void content, different coaters produced different results with respect to argon implantation. Each individual system met the requirements for argon implantation, but the deviation from one system to another and from run to run exceeded the variability requirements as specified by the National Ignition Facility target design requirements. We redesigned the fixturing within one system to improve reproducibility. Then, we reconfigured the coaters so that the vertical and lateral alignments of the shells under the gun varied <1 mm between systems. After this process, the systems were able to produce beryllium capsules with radial argon profiles that met specifications and were consistent from run to run and from system to system. During this process we gained insight into the beryllium coating process. The radial argon variation was shown to be dependent on sputter target thickness. We also found that the argon content in the shells was extremely dependent on the position of the shells with respect to the gun.