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Fusion Science and Technology
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On moving fast and breaking things
Craig Piercycpiercy@ans.org
So much of what is happening in federal nuclear policy these days seems driven by a common approach popularized in the technology sector. Silicon Valley calls it “move fast and break things,” a phrase originally associated with Facebook’s early culture under Mark Zuckerberg. The idea emerged in the early 2000s as software companies discovered that rapid iteration, frequent experimentation, and a willingness to tolerate failure could dramatically accelerate innovation. This philosophy helped drive the growth of the social media, smartphones, cloud computing, and digital platforms that now underpin modern economic and social life.
Today, that mindset is also influencing federal nuclear policy. The Trump administration views accelerated nuclear deployment as part of a broader competition with China for technological and AI leadership. In that context, it seems willing to accept greater operational risk in pursuit of strategic advantage and long-term economic and security objectives.
Daniela Farina
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 2 | August 2007 | Pages 154-160
Technical Paper | Electron Cyclotron Wave Physics, Technology, and Applications - Part 1 | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1494
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The theoretical framework of quasi-optical propagation power absorption and driven current of a Gaussian beam of electron cyclotron (EC) waves in a general tokamak equilibrium implemented in the code GRAY is presented. Within the framework of the complex eikonal approach, the propagation of a general astigmatic Gaussian beam is described in terms of a set of coupled rays, allowing for diffraction effects. The computation of the EC wave absorption and current drive is performed for each ray of the beam, by means of a relativistic dispersion relation for EC waves and of a neoclassical response function for the current. The code has been designed and tested for calculations of propagation, power absorption, and current drive of realistic EC beams in ITER.