Clearing the seven obstacles on the road to fusion power

Change of title : Nuclear fission and fusion fast breeder technology, generation IV reactors, supply chain issues, ITER materials research. Abstract only

Forward modeling of collective Thomson scattering for Wendelstein 7-X plasmas:Electrostatic approximation

In this paper, we present a method for numerical computation of collective Thomson scattering (CTS). We developed a forward model, eCTS, in the electrostatic approximation and benchmarked it against a full electromagnetic model. Differences between the electrostatic and the electromagnetic models are discussed. The sensitivity of the results to the ion temperature and the plasma composition is demonstrated. We integrated the model into the Bayesian data analysis framework Minerva and used it for the analysis of noisy synthetic data sets produced by a full electromagnetic model. It is shown that eCTS can be used for the inference of the bulk ion temperature. The model has been used to infer the bulk ion temperature from the first CTS measurements on Wendelstein 7-X.</p

Fusion: Expensive and Taking Forever?

Industrial Ecolog

Forward modeling of collective Thomson scattering for Wendelstein 7-X plasmas: Electrostatic approximation

In this paper, we present a method for numerical computation of collective Thomson scattering (CTS). We developed a forward model, eCTS, in the electrostatic approximation and benchmarked it against a full electromagnetic model. Differences between the electrostatic and the electromagnetic models are discussed. The sensitivity of the results to the ion temperature and the plasma composition is demonstrated. We integrated the model into the Bayesian data analysis framework Minerva and used it for the analysis of noisy synthetic data sets produced by a full electromagnetic model. It is shown that eCTS can be used for the inference of the bulk ion temperature. The model has been used to infer the bulk ion temperature from the first CTS measurements on Wendelstein 7-X.EURATOM 63305

Extreme hydrogen plasma densities achieved in a linear plasma generator

A magnetized hydrogen plasma beam was generated with a cascaded arc, expanding in a vacuum vessel at an axial magnetic field of up to 1.6 T. Its characteristics were measured at a distance of 4 cm from the nozzle: up to a 2 cm beam diameter, 7.5×1020 m-3 electron density, ~2 eV electron and ion temperatures, and 3.5 km/s axial plasma velocity. This gives a 2.6×1024 H+ m-2 s-1 peak ion flux density, which is unprecedented in linear plasma generators. The high efficiency of the source is obtained by the combined action of the magnetic field and an optimized nozzle geometry. This is interpreted as a cross-field return current that leads to power dissipation in the beam just outside the source

Transport of high fluxes of hydrogen plasma in a linear plasma generator

A study was made to quantify the losses during the convective hydrogen plasma transport in the linear plasma generator Pilot-PSI due to volume recombination. A transport efficiency of 35% was achieved at neutral background pressures below ~7 Pa in a magnetic field of 1.2 T. This efficiency decreased to essentially zero at higher pressures. At 1.6 T, the measured downstream plasma density was up to double the upstream density. Apparently plasma pumping and recycling at the target start to play a role under these increased confinement conditions. Feeding the plasma column at this field strength with a net current did not change the downstream density. This indicates that recycling sets the local plasma conditions

Hysteresis and fast timescales in transport relations of toroidal plasmas

This article assesses current understanding of hysteresis in transport relations, and its impact on the field. The rapid changes of fluxes compared to slow changes of plasma parameters are overviewed for both core and edge plasmas. The modulation ECH experiment is explained, in which the heating power cycles on-and-off periodically, revealing hysteresis and fast changes in the gradientflux relation. The key finding is that hystereses were observed simultaneously in both the the gradientflux and gradientfluctuation relations. Hysteresis with rapid timescale exists in the channels of energy, electron and impurity densities, and plausibly in momentum. Advanced methods of data analysis are explained. Transport hysteresis can be studied by observing the higher harmonics of temperature perturbation ??Tm in heating modulation experiments. The hysteresis introduces the term ??Tm, which depends on the harmonic number m in an algebraic manner (not exponential decay). Next, the causes of hysteresis and its fast timescale are discussed. The nonlocal-in-space coupling works here, but does not suffice. One mechanism for the heating heats turbulence is that the external source S in phase space for heating has its fluctuation in turbulent plasma. This coupling can induce the direct input of heating power into fluctuations. The height of the jump in transport hysteresis is smaller for heavier hydrogen isotopes, and could be one of the origins of isotope effects on confinement. Finally, the impacts of transport hysteresis on the control system are assessed. Control systems must be designed so as to protect the system from sudden plasma loss