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Latest News
Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
Takanori Higashi, Takahito Tomizawa, Mitsugu Daino, Yasushi Yamamoto
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 44 | Number 2 | September 2003 | Pages 544-548
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Nonelectric Applications | doi.org/10.13182/FST03-A394
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The effects of operating gas pressure on a Cylindrical Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion (IECF) device are investigated. First we did glow discharge experiments, and we obtained 1.8 × 106 neutrons production per second with 45-kV, 44-mA discharge at 1.2 Pa. Next we modified the device and tried to reduce the operating gas pressure with an ion source, aimed to increase neutron production. Although the discharge currents are small, we can make steady discharges at less than 0.1 Pa. The neutron production rates per current are larger than those of glow discharge at higher pressure. We consider it should suggest the validity of reducing operating pressure in IECF devices.
