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Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
Christophe S. Debonnel, Dale R. Welch, David V. Rose, Simon S. Yu, Per F. Peterson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 43 | Number 3 | May 2003 | Pages 408-413
Technical Paper | Lasers and Heavy-Ion Drivers | doi.org/10.13182/FST03-A285
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The effective propagation and focusing of heavy-ion beams in the final-focus magnet region of inertial fusion target chambers require controlling the background gas density and pressure in the beam tubes. Liquid vortexes will coat the inside of the tubes next to the beam ports and will help eliminate the need for mechanical shutters to mitigate the venting of target chamber background gas into the final-focus magnet region. Before the neutralizing region, the beam space charge is high, and ablation and target debris deposition in the final-focus magnet region may cause voltage breakdown. Previous studies focused on evaluating the amount of target chamber debris reaching the entrance of the beam ports. The TSUNAMI code has now been used to assess the density, temperature, and velocity of the vortex debris transported ~3 m up the beam tubes and reaching the final-focus magnet region, assuming that the liquid vortexes are perfectly absorbing surfaces. To further mitigate debris deposition in the final-focus magnet region, and prevent voltage breakdown, a "magnetic shutter" has been envisaged to divert the debris out of the final-focus region. This shutter will prevent the hot ablation debris from reaching the magnet region and, coupled to some ionizing scheme, will conveniently suppress early ingression of debris into the final-focus magnet region.