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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. P. Goedbloed
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 45 | Number 2 | March 2004 | Pages 95-106
Technical Paper | Plasma and Fusion Energy Physics - Equilibrium and Instabilities | doi.org/10.13182/FST04-A473
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We continue with the adventures of the Alfvén wave and its two magnetosonic companions as they travel in the curved space of magnetic surfaces and field lines (Sec. 2), find themselves trapped in singularities of an unprecedented richness (Sec. 3), decide to get themselves better maps of the landscape to do the required twisting while some of their youthful energy is leaking away (Sec. 4), cause trouble at the edge of a powerful empire (Sec. 5), and finally see the light in a distant future (Sec. 6). Needed on the trip are the evolution equations of both ideal and resistive MHD 'derived' in reference [1], the solutions to the toroidal equilibrium equations discussed in reference [2], the general background on spectral theory of inhomogeneous plasmas presented in reference [3], which is extended in the two directions of toroidal geometry and resistivity in this lecture [4]. This leads to such intricate dynamics that numerical techniques are virtually the only way to proceed. This aspect is further elaborated in reference [5] on numerical techniques.