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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.
K. T. Hsieh, W.F. Weldon, M.D. Werst, E. Montalvo, R. Carrera
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 1089-1094
Ignition Device | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29488
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Texas fusion ignition experiment (IGNITEX) device is a 20 T single turn coil tokamak designed to produce and control an ignited plasma using ohmic heating alone. As a baseline design, IGNITEX has a 1.5 m major radius and operates at a toroidal field (TF) of 20 T on-axis. The small version of IGNITEX (R = 1.2 m) represents the smallest, low cost experiment that can produce fusion ignition under the saturated Neo-Alcator energy confinement scaling. The large version of IGNITEX (R = 2.1 m) represents the smallest experiment that can produce fusion ignition using the most pessimistic extrapolation of the Goldston scaling in L-mode. The Ignition Technology Demonstration (ITD) program was initiated to design, build, and test the operation of a single turn, 20 T, TF coil powered by an existing 9 MA, HPG power supply system. The ITD TF coil is a 0.06 scale of the IGNITEX and is now operating at the Center for Electromechanics at The University of Texas at Austin (CEM-UT). Data from the ITD experiment is used to confirm the complex computer model utilized for the IGNITEX design and analysis. In this paper, feasibility of the TF magnets is evaluated based on the electromechanical and thermomechanical considerations.