Journal ArticleDOI
The physics of magnetic fusion reactors
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In this paper, the status of understanding of the physics of toroidal plasmas is reviewed, and it is shown how the physics performance, constrained by technological and economic realities, determines the form of reference toroidal reactors.Abstract:
During the past two decades there have been substantial advances in magnetic fusion research. On the experimental front, progress has been led by the mainline tokamaks, which have achieved reactor-level values of temperature and plasma pressure. Comparable progress, when allowance is made for their smaller programs, has been made in complementary configurations such as the stellarator, reversed-field pinch and field-reversed configuration. In this paper, the status of understanding of the physics of toroidal plasmas is reviewed. It is shown how the physics performance, constrained by technological and economic realities, determines the form of reference toroidal reactors. A comparative study of example reactors is not made, because the level of confidence in projections of their performance varies widely, reflecting the vastly different levels of support which each has received. Success with the tokamak has led to the initiation of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project. It is designed to produce 1500 MW of fusion power from a deuterium-tritium plasma for pulses of 1000 s or longer and to demonstrate the integration of the plasma and nuclear technologies needed for a demonstration reactor.read more
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Journal ArticleDOI
Physics of magnetically confined plasmas
TL;DR: The physics of magnetically confined plasmas has had much of its development as part of the program to develop fusion energy and is an important element in the study of space and astrophysical Plasmas as mentioned in this paper.
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Fundamental Statistical Descriptions of Plasma Turbulence in Magnetic Fields
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“PROCESS”: A systems code for fusion power plants—Part 1: Physics
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the capabilities of the PROCESS this article code, which is used to assess the engineering and economic viability of a hypothetical fusion power station using simple models of all parts of a reactor system, from the basic plasma physics to the generator.
Journal ArticleDOI
Turbulence measurements in fusion plasmas
TL;DR: An overview of the current status and understanding of plasma turbulence measurements in the closed flux surface region of magnetic confinement fusion devices is presented in this article, highlighting some recent developments and outstanding problems.