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Fusion Science and Technology
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RIC panel discusses pathway to fusion commercialization
Fusion leaders at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s annual Regulatory Information Conference discussed the path forward for regulating the burgeoning fusion industry. The speakers discussed government and private industry initiatives in the United States and United Kingdom, with a focus on efforts shaping the near-term deployment of commercial fusion machines.
A recurring theme was the need to explain the difference between fission and fusion. Representatives from the Department of Energy and Type One Energy highlighted this as an important distinction for regulators, as it will allow fusion to undergo its own independent maturation process for developing standards and regulations in the same way that fission has. Lea Perlas, Fusion Program director at the Virginia Department of Health, said that confusion between fission and fusion has been a common cause for misplaced concerns among community members surrounding Commonwealth Fusion Systems’ proposed fusion plant site near Richmond, Va.
J. B. McBride, N. A. Uckan, R. J. Kashuba
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 497-501
Plasma Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22912
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper summarizes the results of a preliminary assessment of energetic ion rings for use in an ELMO Bumpy Torus (EBT) reactor. The properties of ion rings are compared with those of electron rings. Ion rings appear to require sizable devices and magnetic field strengths for stable, adiabatic confinement. Stable windows for steady-state ion ring operation having acceptable power requirements, determined mainly by Coulomb drag on the background electrons, appear to exist for EBT reactors. Power requirements for ion rings can be quantitatively lower than those for electron rings, provided the ion ring volume does not greatly exceed the electron ring volume. Some stability properties of ion rings are also discussed. Results of parametric trade-off studies for ion rings versus electron rings using an EBT reactor systems code are presented.
