Fusion Energy

This paper will summarize highlights of the safety approach and discuss the ITER EDA safety activities. The ITER safety approach is driven by three major objectives: (1) Enhancement or improvement of fusion's intrinsic safety characteristics to the maximum extent feasible, which includes a minimization of the dependence on dedicated “safety systems”; (2) Selection of conservative design parameters and development of

The recirculating power for virtually all types of fusion reactors has previously been calculated [1] with the Fokker–Planck equation. The reactors involve non-Maxwellian plasmas. The calculations are generic in that they do not relate to specific confinement devices. In all cases except for a Tokamak with D–T fuel the recirculating power was found to exceed the fusion power by a large factor. In this paper we criticize the generality claimed for this calculation. The ratio of circulating power to fusion power is calculated for the Colliding Beam Reactor with fuels D–T, D–He3 and p–B11. The results are respectively, 0.070, 0.141 and 0.493.

This paper reports a collaborative effort of a team which formed at Los Alamos to investigate the announcement that “cold fusion” may be occurring in electrochemical cells using palladium cathodes and platinum anodes in a LiOD electrolyte. Four electrochemical cells were construced and operated for 3–5 weeks under various geometrical and electrical conditions. Nuclear diagnostic measurements included high and low resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy, integral neutron counting with well detectors and banks of3He tubes, and neutron spectroscopy withNE-213 scintillators. For one of the cells, the deuterium loading of the cathode was determined from resistance measurements to beD/Pd⩽ 0.8. No conclusive evidence was found for the production of neutrons or 2.223-MeV gammas above levels consistent with background. The results of the measurements of tritium levels in the cell electrolytes are also reported. Experiments to reproduce the observation of neutrons from high pressureTi-D 2 gas experiments were also performed with negative results.

Could today's technology suffice for engineering advanced-fuel, magnetic-fusion power plants, thus making fusion development primarily a physics problem? Such a path would almost certainly cost far less than the present D-T development program, which is driven by daunting engineering challenges as well as physics questions. Advanced fusion fuels, in contrast to D-T fuel, produce a smaller fraction of the fusion

In connection with possible application as a coolant fluid in fusion reactors, molten LiNO3 and LiNO3/LiNO2 mixtures, and their mixtures with Na/K nitrates, have been evaluated with respect to their high temperature stability, their ability to reversibly dissolve and release tritium and, in a very limited sense, their corrosiveness toward structural alloys. The results of the primarily thermochemical evaluation indicate that with respect to thermal/radiolytic decomposition and corrosivity LiNO3/LiNO2 may be suitable for application up to R 700°K; however, with respect to reversibility/irreversibility of tritium release, it appears unsuitable at all likely operating temperatures (R 675–800°K).

Electric utilities are keenly interested in the promise of fusion: large-scale electricity production anywhere, with virtually no natural resource depletion or environmental pollution. To expedite development of commercially viable fusion systems, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) — the R&D wing of the U.S. electric utility industry — recently convened a panel of top utility R&D managers and executive oKcers to identify the key criteria that must be met by fusion plants in order to be acceptable to utilities. The panel’s findings, summarized in this report, emphasize competitive economics, positive public perception, and regulatory simplicity.

We argue that it is essential for the fusion energy program to identify an imagination-capturing critical mission by developing a unique product which could command the marketplace. We lay out the logic that this product is a fusion rocket engine, to enable a rapid response capable of deflecting an incoming comet, to prevent its impact on the planet Earth, in defense of our population, infrastructure, and civilization. As a side benefit, deep space solar system exploration, with greater speed and orders-of-magnitude greater payload mass would also be possible.