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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
Mamoru Shoji, Masahiro Kobayashi, Suguru Masuzaki, Akio Sagara, Hiroshi Yamada, Akio Komori, LHD Experimental Groups
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 2 | August 2009 | Pages 1001-1008
Divertors and High Heat Flux Components | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 2) | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A9041
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A new closed helical divertor configuration for efficient particle control and reduction of the heat load on the divertor plates is proposed. The closed divertor configuration practically utilizes an ergodic layer and magnetic field line configuration on divertor legs in helical systems. For optimization of the design of the closed divertor, the distribution of the strike points is calculated in various magnetic configurations in the Large Helical Device (LHD). It suggests that the installation of the closed divertor components in the inboard side of the torus under an inward shift configuration (Rax=3.60m) is the best choice for achieving the above two purposes. This divertor configuration does not interfere with plasma heating and diagnostic systems installed in outer ports. The prospect of the closed divertor configuration to a helical fusion reactor is investigated using a three-dimensional neutral particle transport simulation code with a one-dimensional plasma fluid calculation on the divertor legs. The investigation shows efficient particle pumping from the in board side and reduction of the heat load due to the combined effect of the optimized closed divertor geometry, ergodized divertor legs, and low electron temperature in the ergodic layer. It indicates a promising closed divertor configuration for helical fusion reactors.