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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.
R. Carrera, W. D. Booth, J. L. Anderson, T. Bauer, D. Coffin, T. A. Parish†
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 1629-1633
Material and Tritium | Proceedings of the Ninth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Oak Brook, Illinois, October 7-11, 1990) | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29574
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper outlines the preliminary conceptual design of a minimum—cost tritium system for a basic ignition experiment whose objective is to produce and control fusion ignited plasmas for scientific study. A system without tritium recycling and tritium reprocessing is envisioned. The fueling requirements can be satisfied by using a tritium storage tank with 20 kCi absorbed in a uranium bed which will be delivered to the facility every month (about 100 ignition pulses). Fueling needs will be supplied by thermal heating of the uranium bed and subsequent gas puffing of the tritium into the tokamak vacuum vessel. A modular vacuum pumping system is considered (6 × 880 ℓ/sec). Tritiated liquid effluents are eliminated by using oilless—bearing pumps. A thin carbon film is applied by glow discharge over the first wall to contain the tritium in the plasma chamber (by saturating the C film). The overall cost of the tritium system is estimated to be less than $3 million.