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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.
R. J. Onega, W. R. Becraft, C. A. Kukielka
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 75 | Number 3 | September 1980 | Pages 243-257
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE80-A19056
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Magnetic confinement fusion programs are now entering the design phase for devices that will demonstrate the physics and engineering necessary for fusion reactors. One design area of significance that is receiving increased consideration is that of determining the characterization and potential consequences of plasma disruptions. The thermal energy and the magnetic energy stored in an engineering test facility type plasma will each be ∼200 MJ. A thermal energy of 200 MJ will result in a very high heat flux if deposited on a tokamak wall in a short time. The consequences of such depositions as a function of disruption time, and of the spatial distribution of the plasma as it strikes the wall, are analyzed in this paper.