Letter Report: Burning Plasma Assessment (Phase 1) (2002) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Letter Report
Letter Report
Pages 1-12
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
This interim report, submitted in response to that urgent request, addresses only two aspects—the importance of a burning plasma experiment for fission energy and the scientific and technical readiness to undertake a burning plasma experiment and offers advice on entering ITER negotiations. The issues discussed here will be amplified in the course of the study, and the final report will address the wider aspects of the burning plasma issue and their relation to the fusion energy science program.
|
From page 2... ...
noted that experimental investigation of a burning plasma remains a grand challenge for plasma physics and a necessary step in the development of fusion energy In light of the need to accomplish that step and of the significant advances over the last decade in the understanding of magnetically confined plasmas and in improved designs for burning plasma experiments, the committee recommends that the U.S. fusion program participate in a burning plasma experiment.
|
From page 3... ...
Relation to Existing Fusion Energy Science Program Conclusion No. 6 from the 2002 Snowmass Fusion Summer Study states that a strong base science and technology program is needed to advance essential fusion science and technology and to participate effectively in, and benefit from, the burning plasma effort.5 All presenters to the committee indicated the need to maintain a strong core program, illustrated by the FESAC recommendation that a strong core science and technology program is essential to the success of the burning plasma effort, as well as to the overall development of fusion energy.6 Further, the FUSAC report noted that a fusion research program must investigate a range of confinement approaches and that it is the combined progress made in science and engineering that will determine the pace of advancement toward the energy goal.
|
From page 4... ...
Maintaining such a program will necessitate a very farce increase in total funding of the order presented to the committee. An expanded ~ _ ~ , ~ tuslon program would be needed to participate In l l UK, maintain the necessary activities In the domestic program, and position the United States to reap the maximum benefit from the scientific and technological progress that will come from both the ITER program and the DOE's Office of Fusion Energy Science core program.
|
From page 5... ...
In this section, the committee explores the critical motivations for the proposed experiments by summarizing the importance of a burning plasma experiment for fusion energy sciences and technology and for fusion as an energy source. Scientific Importance Burning plasmas at near reactor scale will present new scientific challenges that must be explored and understood to enable the development of fusion energy.
|
From page 6... ...
While these fluctuations have been studied experimentally using externally generated energetic ions, the space and energy distribution of these ions and their anisotropy are significantly different from those of fusion-generated alpha particles, modifying the fluctuations and their impact on the fast ion confinement. Extrapolation from present experiments to the effective size of a full energy-proclucing reactor entails substantial uncertainty, which can, however, be reduced by studying a burning plasma experiment.
|
From page 7... ...
Reaching the burning plasma regime (lepencls critically on the rate at which energy is lost from the plasma. This energy loss rate can be inferred on the basis of confinement scaling, nondimensional scaling, flux-surface-averaged transport modeling, and three-dimensional 7 Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC)
|
From page 8... ...
These simulations provide detailed information about the mechanisms responsible for the loss rates of heat, momentum, and plasma particles. Taken together, these advances provide an acceptable level of confidence in projecting the performance of the proposed burning plasma experiments arid predict adequate performance of the redesigned ITER experiment.
|
From page 9... ...
While there is such confidence, further R&D is needed to develop plasmas that present less stringent heat loads to plasma-facing components. Burning plasma experiments are designed to safely handle abnormal events such as disruptions should they occur.
|
From page 10... ...
I 1 Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) Panel Report, Review of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, April 18,1997, Washington D.C., available online at |
From page 11... ...
5. The required remote maintenance for a burning plasma experiment must be possible.
|
From page 12... ...
Recent theoretical and experimental progress in understanding and controlling tokamak plasmas and progress in developing burning-plasma-relevant technology provide added confidence that a burning plasma experiment can be carried out. Summary In summary, the committee finds that the progress made in fusion science and fusion technology increases confidence in the readiness to proceed with a burning plasma experiment the next step for the U.S.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.