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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.
J. K. Dickens, J. W. McConnell, K. M. Chase, H. W. Hendel, E. B. Nieschmidt, Francis Y. Tsang
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 12 | Number 2 | September 1987 | Pages 270-280
Shielding | doi.org/10.13182/FST87-A11963785
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Spectral distributions of high-energy neutrons (0.9 ≤ En ≤ 14.5 MeV) and of high-energy gamma rays (0.4 ≤ Eγ ≤ 9.4 MeV) due to a deuterium-tritium (D-T) neutron point source simulating the extended fusion plasma neutron source in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory are reported. A D-T neutron generator was positioned inside the vacuum vessel at ten different locations around the torus. Neutrons and gamma rays were detected by a liquid-scintillator-based detector (4.65-cm diam × 4.22 cm high) with electronic pulse-shape discrimination to differentiate between events in the detector due to incident neutrons and those due to incident gamma rays. The detector was placed on the median plane of the reactor at 8.85 m from the geometric center of the TFTR. Two spectral distributions, one for neutrons and the other for gamma rays, were obtained for each of 18 measurements. The neutron data exhibit a high-energy peak dominated by uncollided primary-energy neutrons and a low-energy contribution from the scattered neutrons. The gamma-ray data exhibit a high-energy contribution due to neutron capture gamma rays and a low-energy contribution due to gamma rays following neutron inelastic scattering reactions.