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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.
W. M. Stacey, Jr., John Mandrekas
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 503-514
Technical Paper | Plasma Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29391
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An extended theory is presented for the calculation of neutral-beam-driven currents in tokamaks, including for the first time the effects of radial transfer of toroidal momentum, background ion rotation, and fast beam ion pressure gradients. The new theory contains the beam current, electron return current with trapping effects, and the bootstrap current contributions of previous theories, but it is extended to be consistent with particle and momentum balance and ambipolarity in a rotating plasma with the radial transfer of toroidal momentum and a significant fast beam ion population. These new effects can produce order unity changes in the beam-driven and bootstrap currents in a Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) model problem.