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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.
C. Gil, C. De Michelis, D. Elbeze, C. Fenzi, J. P. Gunn, F. Imbeaux, Ph. Lotte, D. Mazon, O. Meyer, M. Missirlian, Ph. Moreau, R. Reichle, R. Sabot, F. Saint-Laurent, J.-L. Segui, A. Simonin, J.-M. Travere, J.-C. Vallet, Tore Supra Team
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 3 | October 2009 | Pages 1219-1252
Technical Papers | Tore Supra Special Issue | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A9175
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Realizing high-power long-duration discharges puts specific constraints on diagnostics: Their front parts have to withstand important thermal loads, eventually requiring active cooling of critical parts, and drifts in measurements have to be avoided in order to supply reliable measurement during the whole discharge duration. Furthermore, the importance of diagnostics for missions other than physics understanding, such as machine operation or safety control, increases. The diagnostics system of Tore Supra consists of roughly 30 diagnostics, covering a large range of plasma parameters from the core to the edge. They have been designed for long-duration plasma discharges, which can last up to 1000 s. Their inner components have been dimensioned to endure continuous high-radiation fluxes, and most of them have been conceived to give a fair measurement all along the discharges.