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Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
A. Yu. Chirkov, S. V. Ryzhkov, P. A. Bagryansky, A. V. Anikeev
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 59 | Number 1 | January 2011 | Pages 39-42
doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A11570
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A numerical model of ion kinetics is considered for the axially symmetrical magnetic trap. The trap contains warm Maxwellian plasma and strongly non-Maxwellian high-energy (fast) ions. The steady-state fast ion population is supported by the ionization of high-energy neutral atoms injected into the plasma. The physical model is based on the kinetic equation with the two-dimensional Fokker–Planck collision operator in the velocity phase space. Regimes of plasma exhaust through the mirrors are considered taking into account the possibility of electrostatic barrier formation. Parameters of power balance are discussed for the system under consideration.