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DTRA’s advancements in nuclear and radiological detection
A new, more complex nuclear age has begun. Echoing the tensions of the Cold War amid rapidly evolving nuclear and radiological threats, preparedness in the modern age is a contest of scientific innovation. The Research and Development Directorate (RD) at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is charged with winning this contest.
J.S. Sarff, M. Cekic, D.J. Den Hartog, G. Fiksel, N.E. Lanier, S.C. Prager, M.R. Stoneking
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 3 | December 1996 | Pages 1403-1408
Innovative Approaches to Fusion Energy | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A11963144
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The reversed field pinch (RFP) is a toroidal, high beta plasma confinement configuration with great potential as an attractive, compact, high power density fusion reactor core. Relatively poor confinement has been a main obstacle in establishing the viability of the RFP. Recent progress in understanding magnetic-fluctuation-induced transport in the RFP has spawned the idea of current profile control to reduce fluctuations and transport. With the addition of inductive poloidal current drive in the Madison Symmetric Torus (MST) device, the energy confinement time is increased five-fold from 1.2 ms to 6 ms. The lowest magnetic fluctuation level and highest electron temperature observed in MST are also obtained with inductive current profile control. These results strongly encourage the development of improved and steady-state current profile control.