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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.
I. Yonekawa, Y. Kawamata, T. Totsuka, H. Akasaka, M. Sueoka, K. Kurihara, T. Kimura, JT-60U Team
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 42 | Number 2 | September-November 2002 | Pages 521-529
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST02-A244
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The present status of the JT-60U control system is reported including its original design concept, the progress of the system, and various modifications since the JT-60 upgrade. This control system has features of a functionally distributed and hierarchical structure, using CAMAC interfaces initially, which have been replaced by versatile module Europe (VME)-bus interfaces, and a protective interlock system composed of both software and hard-wired interlock logics. Plant monitoring and control are performed by efficient data communication through CAMAC highways and Ethernet with TCP/IP protocols. Sequential control of plasma discharges is executed by a combination of a remodeled VME-bus system and a timing system. A real-time plasma control system and a human interface system have been continuously modified corresponding to the progress of JT-60U experiments.
