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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
John Sheffield, Donald A. Spong
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 70 | Number 1 | July 2016 | Pages 36-53
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST15-161
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The advantages of using the catalyzed deuterium-deuterium (D-D) approach for a fusion reactor—lower and less energetic neutron flux and no need for a tritium breeding blanket—have been evaluated in previous papers, giving examples of both tokamak and stellarator reactors. This paper presents an update for the stellarator example, taking account of more recent empirical transport scaling results and design studies of lower-aspect-ratio stellarators. We use a modified version of the Generic Magnetic Fusion Reactor model to cost a stellarator-type reactor. Recently, this model has been updated to reflect the improved science and technology base and costs in the magnetic fusion program. It is shown that an interesting catalyzed D-D, stellarator power plant might be possible if the following parameters could be achieved: R/<a> ≈ 4, required improvement factor to ISS04 scaling, FR = 0.9 to 1.15, <β> ≈ 8.0% to 11.5%, Zeff ≈ 1.45 plus a relativistic temperature correction, fraction of fast ions lost ≈ 0.07, Bm ≈ 14 to 16 T, and R ≈ 18 to 24 m.