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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.
José M. Balmisa, Micah D. Lowenthal, Ehud Greenspan, Javier Sanz, Nathan Stone
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 34 | Number 3 | November 1998 | Pages 964-968
Neutronics Experiments and Analysis (Poster Session) | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A11963737
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A new practical method has been developed for calculating neutron-activation inventories of target material in inertial fusion energy (IFE) reactors such as HYLIFE-II. It accounts for irradiation both in the target and in the internal blanket and for material circulation in and out of the primary loop. The continuous removal of target material in the real system is approximated by a batch extraction (BE). A single target is followed through its lifetime in the reactor using “transition matrices” for activation and decay which are generated by the ACAB code package. The inventory of all the isotopes of interest accumulating in the reactor is obtained by superimposing the contribution of single targets. The new BE model simulates, within minutes, the evolution of more than 150 isotopes over the 30-year reactor lifetime, explicitly accounting for the millions of neutron pulses experienced by a single target and summing the inventories of all the targets.