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In transition: Commercializing fusion power
Commercial fusion power is closer than ever. There are now around 30 U.S. fusion companies, several of which claim to be on track to connect to the grid as early as the 2030s.
Tokamak and laser inertial confinement approaches benefit from decades of research at facilities such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and ITER, with alternative concepts including stellarator, magnetic mirror, and Z-pinch confinement also making notable progress as private and government funding for fusion increases.
M. M. R. Williams
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 96 | Number 3 | July 1987 | Pages 234-240
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE87-A16384
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The one-speed transport equation is solved for a ring reactor. A complete solution is obtained for the space-time relaxation of a pulse of neutrons in a multiplying medium in which delayed neutrons are neglected. The solution consists of a fundamental mode, a finite number of harmonics, and an integral transient. A condition is deduced, which gives the maximum number of harmonics that can exist for a given ring circumference. The limitations of diffusion theory are pointed out with particular reference to the shortcomings of that theory in dealing with the early stages of evolution of the pulse. Delayed neutrons are included and a complete solution is obtained by means of the prompt jump approximation. The results are illustrated by numerical calculations designed to show the onset of instabilities in the harmonics when the reactor is sufficiently large.