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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.
I. García-Cortés, F. L. Tabarés, D. Tafalla, R. Balbín, J. M. Carmona, A. Hidalgo, J. A. Ferreira, A. López-Fraguas, K. J. McCarthy, V. I. Vargas, TJ-II Team
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 50 | Number 2 | August 2006 | Pages 307-312
Technical Paper | Stellarators | doi.org/10.13182/FST06-A1251
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Neutral beam injection (NBI) heating in the TJ-II stellarator faces the particular challenge of unwanted particle sources, which for relatively low injected powers drive the plasma to collapse at relatively low values of line density. This effect is aggravated by an enhancement of particle confinement that occurs as density increases. At present, candidate magnetic topologies that make use of intrinsic islands at the plasma edge are being investigated experimentally. This concept uses magnetic configurations having a rotational transform with a rational value at the edge, i.e., an island divertor (ID). Recently, impurity injection experiments have been performed for ID and limiter configurations to investigate the divertor effect in TJ-II. Indeed, the enhanced screening of injected impurities, as well as the low intrinsic plasma contamination found in these ID plasmas, points to such magnetic configurations as being good candidates for the NBI experimental program in TJ-II.