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Fusion Science and Technology
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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.
Edmund T. Rumble, III, William E. Kastenberg
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 49 | Number 2 | October 1972 | Pages 172-187
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE72-A35505
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Several nonlinear space-time reactor models are studied by employing modal analysis. Eigenfunction modes resulting from the solution of Sturm-Liouville equations satisfying the appropriate linear portion of the neutron diffusion equation are chosen. These modes form a complete, orthogonal set and are convenient to calculate numerically. Examples where coefficients and time constants are representative of present reactor design are studied. The work is focused on space-dependent feedback and local step and ramp reactivity insertions. The large difference in the neutronic and thermal-hydraulic time constants gives rise to computational difficulties. This difficulty, characteristic of “stiff systems” was minimized by use of a rational extrapolation technique to solve the resultant equations.