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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.
Mitchell R. Swartz
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 31 | Number 2 | March 1997 | Pages 228-236
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reaction in Solid | doi.org/10.13182/FST97-A30825
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An explanation is given for the anomalous branching ratio in solids based on Boson-cooperative removal of the 4He* energy prior to decay by two-body fission. Facilitated by isospin restrictions that limit conventional pathways, the excess heat is driven by the reconfiguration to the more tightly bound 4He ground state. A temperature rise occurs as well-mixed acoustical and optical phonons are unable to carry off all the local momentum and excess energy of the reactions. Four-vector analysis indicates conservation of energy, which suggests the use of a fusion quantum of energy delivered to the lattice's phonon cloud: a phuson. Special relativistic considerations indicate that the phonon cloud subtends ∼450 to 800 unit cells and can couple with de-excitation times >0.1 fs. Thus, commensurate levels of neutrons and gammas are not required because of unique isospin and energy restrictions that facilitate the alternate Bose-cooperative pathway leading from the excited state.