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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.
A C Bell, the JET Team
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 26 | Number 3 | November 1994 | Pages 1043-1050
Tritium Technology, Safety, Environment, and Remote Maintenance | Proceedings of the Eleventh Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy New Orleans, Louisiana June 19-23, 1994 | doi.org/10.13182/FST94-A40293
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
D-T plasma operation has always been envisaged since the beginning of the JET Project and both the original design and subsequent modifications have been designed to take account of the requirements of D-T operation. A limited tritium experiment was carried out in November 1991 which generated 1.7MW of fusion power. In addition to the physics objectives, this experiment was intended to provide results which would be important for the technology to be used in full D-T phase, such as tritium accounting and hold-up. Because of the limited usage of tritium it was possible to use a “once-through” system in which around 99% of the tritium was recovered. It is currently planned to have a daily throughput of around 10g of tritium per day in the full D-T phase, introduced through neutral beam and/or gas puffing. As it would be neither environmentally acceptable nor cost-effective to discharge even 1% of this to the atmosphere, a tritium recycling plant, known as the Active Gas Handling System (AGHS) has been constructed and is currently being commissioned. It was necessary to take several issues into consideration in the design of the AGHS to ensure that it and the JET machine would be capable of being licensed for handling tritium. These were ensuring that “Best Practicable Means” were used to limit routine discharges to the environment; ensuring that routine radiation exposure of the JET workforce would be minimised; and ensuring that the risk to the workforce and the public arising from accidents would be acceptably low. The technology involved, waste management and regulatory issues are discussed further in the paper.