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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.
Michael Tendler, Daniel Heifetz
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 11 | Number 2 | March 1987 | Pages 289-310
Overview | doi.org/10.13182/FST87-A25010
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The theory of neutral particle kinetics treats the transport of mass, momentum, and energy in a plasma due to neutral particles that themselves are unaffected by magnetic fields. This transport affects the global power and particle balances infusion devices, as well as profile control and plasma confinement quality, particle and energy fluxes onto device components, performance of pumping systems, and the design of diagnostics and the interpretation of their measurements. The development of analytic, numerical, and Monte Carlo methods of solving the time-independent Boltzmann equation describing neutral kinetics is reviewed. These models for neutral particle behavior typically use adaptations of techniques developed originally for computing neutron transport, due to the analogy between the two phenomena, where charge-exchange (CX) corresponds to scattering and ionization to absorption. There are, however, some important qualitative differences between the two fields. Progress in the simulation of neutral kinetics depends on developing multidimensional analytic methods and obtaining experimental data for the physical processes of wall reflection, the neutral/plasma interaction, and for processes in fusion devices that are directly related to neutral transport, such as Hα emission rates, plenum pressures, and CX emission spectra.