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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.
C. R. Bell, N. P. Oberle, W. Rohsenow, N. Todreas, C. Tso
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 53 | Number 4 | April 1974 | Pages 458-465
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE74-A23376
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A series of studies was made of bubble nucleation by fission fragments and fast neutrons. The experimental work was conducted by a liquid suspension method in a pressure chamber designed to provide for visual determination of the onset of nucleation. The minimum superheat necessary for nucleation of visible bubbles was measured in water and propylene glycol. An analytic prediction method for the superheat threshold is presented, utilizing the “thermal spike” theory of Seitz and Rayleigh’s criteria for instability of a vapor jet in liquid. This method predicts that the important parameter a, equal to the ratio of the track length in which net energy must be deposited to the critical bubble radius, should equal 6.07. By this analysis, this value is independent of the type of thermal-spike-producing radiation, the type of fluid, and the system condition. The experimental data from this investigation and all other published data were examined to determine the applicable a values. This examination did not result in identification of a values consistent with the proposed prediction. Reasons for the deviation of the data from predictions are discussed, but the basis of the deviations cannot be resolved.