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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.
K. A. Moreno, S. Eddinger, J. Fong, Y. T. Lee, A. Nguyen, A. Nikroo, H. Huang, R. Rosano, H. W. Xu
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 4 | May 2009 | Pages 349-355
Technical Paper | Eighteenth Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST55-349
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A procedure has been developed to fully characterize the National Ignition Facility (NIF) capsule. A variety of techniques has been developed and deployed to characterize the critical specifications of the capsules to the precision required by NIF. Capsules are fully characterized in order to verify their critical specifications including dimensional, chemical composition, and surface roughness. It has been demonstrated that capsules can be fully characterized at a throughput that will meet NIF demand. The specific metrology procedures, techniques, and errors associated with those techniques will be described in this paper. Also, the time line that is used to fully characterize a NIF capsule will be explored.