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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.
Chungpin Liao, Mujid S. Kazimi, John E. Meyer
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 23 | Number 2 | March 1993 | Pages 208-217
Technical Paper | Divertor System | doi.org/10.13182/FST93-A30148
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The steady-state operational conditions for large tokamaks impose high performance requirements that cast suspicion on the employment of conventional solid surface divertors. Flowing liquid-metal divertors are thus being considered as an alternative. A preliminary evaluation is made of some aspects of this concept. To understand the hydrogen (i.e., deuterons and tritons) recycling behavior in liquid metals, the transport and chemistry aspects of the hydrogen/liquid-metal interaction are investigated, including hydrogen gettering, tritium inventory, and blistering caused by hydrogen bubble eruptions. It is shown that when operating in the high-recycling mode (i.e., as the liquid metal is filled with deuterons and tritons, one implanting ion will immediately cause the emission of one neutral particle), lithium would have a large tritium inventory. Gallium, on the other hand, does not have the same problem because of its negligible hydrogen solubility and the decomposition of its hydrides in the temperature range of interest. However, to avoid blistering, the flow speed of a gallium neutralizer has to be high. An edge plasma simulation model is briefly introduced, and its outcome for the high-recycling liquid-metal (lithium and gallium) divertors is presented. This model gives more realistic predictions of plasma temperature than some of the existing simulation models. Results of this model show that denser and cooler edge plasmas can be achieved by liquid-metal divertors than by conventional stationary surface divertors. Evaporation and sputtering of liquid-metal divertors are shown not to be as serious a problem as might be suspected at first glance.