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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. Segev
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 91 | Number 2 | October 1985 | Pages 143-152
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE85-A27437
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A deuterium-tritium neutron source is amplified when emitted into a body of material with appreciable (n,2n), (n,3n), and (n,f) cross sections. This amplification is described by a simple theory, approximating the strict integral transport description of the process. The distribution of neutrons in energy, from 14 MeV down to the (n,2n) threshold, is approximated by a generalized slowing down equation, which is similar in form to the infinite medium slowing down equation, and with average collision probabilities taking up the role of scattering fractions. Following a few collisions, the collision source spatial distribution resembles the fundamental mode flux distribution of a critical reactor. The average collision probability for such a source is, in diffusion theory, ∑tr/(∑tr + DB2), where B2 is the geometrical buckling of the system. This yields an expression of the form (αx+βx2)/(l + αx + βx2) for the average collision probability, where x is a representative optical thickness of the system. It has been shown by numerical means that this form for the average collision probability is generally true for centrally peaked sources in variously shaped bare bodies of any optical thickness.