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Smarter waste strategies: Helping deliver on the promise of advanced nuclear
At COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, a clear consensus emerged: Nuclear energy must be a cornerstone of the global clean energy transition. With electricity demand projected to soar as we decarbonize not just power but also industry, transport, and heat, the case for new nuclear is compelling. More than 20 countries committed to tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. In the United States alone, the Department of Energy forecasts that the country’s current nuclear capacity could more than triple, adding 200 GW of new nuclear to the existing 95 GW by mid-century.
J. D. Galambos, Y.-K. Martin Peng
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 1 | January 1991 | Pages 31-42
Technical Paper | Fusion Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29313
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The D-3He ignition and burn criteria for tokamaks and spherical torus reactors are examined in a global analysis with profile corrections. Particle confinement and ash buildup effects are included with the power balance, which results in an increased sensitivity of the ignition criteria to losses via bremsstrahlung and synchrotron radiation. Plasma beta scaling via an ɛβp limit provides the needed aspect ratio (A) dependence and permits an analysis in all A values of the first and second stability regimes. Energy confinement time (τE) associated with particle diffusion (τp) and energy conduction (τc) is used. The ignition condition for minimum nτE is found to be sensitive to beta but not to the magnetic field. Steady-state burn in second stability tokamaks (ξβp ≥ 0.6) at high A (>4) with average synchrotron wall reflectivities below 95% requires nτE above 5 × 1021 m−3 · s or strong plasma elongation (κ > 3). Ignition in a spherical torus can be achieved with wall reflectivities below 80% and at nτE ≤ 1021 m−3 · s, without requiring strong plasma shaping or ɛβp > 0.6. The need to minimize nτE for ignition and burn strongly limits the synchrotron radiation loss to <20% of the fusion power for all values of A. Synchrotron power fractions can be increased, but only to 40%, due to an upper bound on nτE. Further increases of this fraction can be obtained only by assuming preferential ash removal.
