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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.
B. Coppi, P. Detragiache, S. Migliuolo, M. Nassi,, B. Rogers
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 25 | Number 3 | May 1994 | Pages 353-367
Technical Paper | Alpha-Particle Special / Experimental Device | doi.org/10.13182/FST94-A30292
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Ignitor experiment has been designed to achieve fusion burn and ignition conditions in a high-density deuterium-tritium (D-T) plasma with a compact high magnetic field confinement configuration. The recent addition of a powerful system of radio-frequency heating to the design of Ignitor allows the investigation of physics issues relevant to advanced D-3He reactors and the second stability region forfinite-β plasmas. To maximize the production of D-3He power, a lower density regime is considered (e.g., n0 ≃ 3 × 1020 m−3) than that found to be optimal for D-T ignition (n0 ≃ 1 × 1021 m−3). This allows a relatively large population of 3He nuclei at high energies ≳0.65 MeV to be produced by a high density of injected power at the 3He ion cyclotron frequency (up to 18 MW injected in the plasma column of volume ≲10 m3). The investigation of second stability region access can be carried out in relatively low magnetic field and plasma current regimes with the added benefit that the duration of the plasma discharge can be extended over relatively long times. In fact, the Ignitor magnets can be brought down to an initial temperature of 30 K by gas-helium cooling. The low aspect ratio (≃2.8) and elongated plasma cross section of Ignitor make it suitable to reach both finite-β conditions and interesting plasma regimes at the same time. The Candor concept is the next step in the evolution of the Ignitor program. Candor is capable of producing plasma currents up to 25 MA with toroidal magnetic fields BT ≃ 13 T. Unlike Ignitor, Candor would operate with values of βp around 1.5 and with the central part of the plasma column in the second stability region. The D-3He ignition in this case can be reached by a combination of ICRF heating and alpha-particle heating due to D-T fusion reactions.