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Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
I. Kotelnikov, M. Romé
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 2 | February 2009 | Pages 140-143
Technical Paper | Seventh International Conference on Open Magnetic Systems for Plasma Confinement | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A7000
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Relativistic effects on the radial equilibrium of non-neutral plasmas confined in cylindrical traps are analyzed for rigid and sheared modes of plasma rotation, both with and without the presence of a coaxial inner charged conductor. The changes with respect to the non-relativistic results are especially pronounced for the fast rotational equilibrium solutions. In particular, relativistic effects can limit the plasma outer radius. Analytical estimates of this maximum radius are found both for a rigid plasma rotation and for the case of a uniform plasma density. It is also observed that the Brillouin density limit is modified when the shielding of the external magnetic field by the current associated with the plasma rotation becomes significant.