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Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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June 16–19, 2024
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Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
D. A. Humphreys
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 59 | Number 3 | April 2011 | Pages 619-620
Appendix A | Fourth ITER International Summer School (IISS2010) / Extended Abstracts | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A11703
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An attractive power plant candidate must provide power >70% of the time in a given operational year, typically implying that the frequency of key component failures resulting in unplanned loss of plant availability must be reduced to <0.001/yr. Present fusion devices typically have little motivation to operate with such high reliability and allow relatively frequent instability-driven plasma-terminating events known as disruptions. The vision of an operational fusion reactor therefore includes a level of reliable control performance and confidence well beyond that of presently operating devices. Maximizing use of the limited number of discharges planned for ITER also implies a major advance in control reliability. Fortunately, the mature field of control theory offers methods that routinely provide such levels of performance in many fields from aerospace to process control. [first paragraph from extended abstract]