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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.
Hesham Y. Khater, William F. Vogelsang
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 22 | Number 1 | August 1992 | Pages 107-114
Technical Paper | D-3He/Fusion Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A30060
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A wide range of experimental radionuclide production cross sections has been collected for protons with energies similar to those protons produced in a D-3He fusion reactor. Proton energy-dependent cross sections (Ep ≤ 14.7 MeV) were used along with the proton stopping data of Anderson and Ziegler to produce a proton-induced thick-target radionuclide activation yield library. The library is linked to a computer program that calculates proton-induced radioactivity. Another potential source of radioactivity considered is the activity induced by neutrons produced from proton interactions with the reactor structure through (p, n) reactions. A computer program that evaluates the energy spectrum of these neutrons has been developed. The thick-target yield library and its associated programs have been used in an activation analysis study aimed at investigating the effect of proton-induced activity on the total level of radioactivity generated in Apollo-L2, a D-3He tokamak fusion power reactor. The proton-induced activity was more than two orders of magnitude less than the activity induced by the fusion neutrons at shutdown and more than one order of magnitude less ∼1 day after shutdown. The level of radioactivity induced by the (p, n) neutrons was found to be two to three orders of magnitude less than fusion neutron-induced radioactivity at any time following shutdown.