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Tokamak Physics

Book

ITER Physics

C. Wendell Horton Jr., Sadruddin Benkadda
The promise of a vast and clean source of thermal power drove physics research for over fifty years and has finally come to collimation with the international consortium led by the European Union and Japan, with an agreement from seven countries to build a definitive test of fusion power in ITER. It happened because scientists since the Manhattan project have envisioned controlled nuclear fusion in obtaining energy with no carbon dioxide emissions and no toxic nuclear waste products. This large toroidal magnetic confinement ITER machine is described from confinement process to advanced physics of plasma-wall interactions, where pulses erupt from core plasma blistering the machine walls. Emissions from the walls reduce the core temperature which must remain ten times hotter than the 15 million degree core solar temperature to maintain ITER fusion power. The huge temperature gradient from core to wall that drives intense plasma turbulence is described in detail. Also explained are the methods designed to limit the growth of small magnetic islands, the growth of edge localized plasma plumes and the solid state physics limits of the stainless steel walls of the confinement vessel from the burning plasma. Designs of the wall coatings and the special "exhaust pipe" for spent hot plasma are provided in two chapters. And the issues associated with high-energy neutrons — about 10 times higher than in fission reactions — and how they are managed in ITER, are detailed.Readership: For nuclear fusion and ITER specialists.
Book

Energy from the Nucleus: The Science and Engineering of Fission and Fusion (World Scientific Series in Current Energy Issues)

Gerard M. Crawley
Nuclear energy is important — as part of national energy policies, and as a source of carbon free energy; however, incidents such as the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster (2011), the Chernobyl disaster (1986), the Three Mile Island accident (1979), and the SL-1 accident (1961) have cast doubts on nuclear energy remaining a part of national energy roadmaps. This volume gives an excellent overview of the current situation, as well as the enormous advantages of an essentially unlimited fuel with minimal environmental impact offered by nuclear fusion. Energy from the Nucleus focuses on the two main approaches in producing energy from the nucleus: fission and fusion. The former is covered by an overview of the statuses of current and future generations of nuclear fission reactors, including new safety requirements and the environmental impact; while the latter explores, namely, inertial confinement fusion and magnetic confinement fusion — including the new international fusion test facility, ITER. The expertise of the authors invited for the various chapters, who are themselves active participants in the technologies, ensures that the accounts and information given are reliable and current. Not to mention, their foresight on the future direction of energy will no doubt enlighten our understanding of Energy from the nucleus.  Readership: Students and professionals interested in/dealing with nuclear engineering; scientists, engineers and policymakers interfacing with nuclear engineering and power.
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Fusion Energy and Power: Applications, Technologies and Challenges

Lionel Romero
The worldwide fusion community continues its research efforts on magnetic confinement as the most promising, long-term, environmentally-friendly power source. Despite the ongoing fusion research efforts in many countries, the technology and materials-related challenges remain formidable and will hinder and delay the first fusion demonstration plant for decades. In this book, the current understanding of technology-related challenges facing fusion research are explored. Advances in fusion neutronics integral experiments in the benchmark mock assemblies for the blanket of a fusion-fission hybrid energy reactor are also described in brief. Cold Fusion (CF) is examined as well, with the authors' argument backed by evidence that cold fusion (CF) can become more understandable. The final chapter details the Force Free Helical Reactor (FFHR) and its implications on fusion power. Contents:  Overview of Fusion Neutronics Experiments for Blanket of a Hybrid Energy Reactor  (Rong Liu, Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Neutron Physics, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, Sichuan, China)  Technology-Related Challenges Facing Fusion Power Plants  (Laila A. El-Guebaly, Lorenzo V. Boccaccini, Richard J. Kurtz, and Lester M. Waganer, University of Wisconsin, Fusion Technology Institute, Madison, WI, USA, and others)  Old Math and Renewed Physics: Keys to Engineering Cold Fusion  (Cynthia Kolb Whitney, Editor, Galilean Electrodynamics)  Control Concept for the High Density and Low Temperature Ignition in the FFHR Helical Reactor  (O. Mitarai, A. Sagara and R. Sakamoto, Kumamoto Liberal Arts Education Center, Tokai University, Toroku, Higashi-ku, Kumamoto, Japan, and others)
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The Theory of Toroidally Confined Plasmas

Roscoe B White
This graduate level textbook develops the theory of magnetically confined plasma, with the aim of bringing the reader to the level of current research in the field of thermonuclear fusion. It begins with the basic concepts of magnetic field description, plasma equilibria and stability, and goes on to derive the equations for guiding center particle motion in an equilibrium field. Topics include linear and nonlinear ideal and resistive modes and particle transport. It is of use to workers in the field of fusion both for its wide-ranging account of tokamak physics and as a kind of handbook or formulary.This edition has been extended in a number of ways. The material on mode-particle interactions has been reformulated and much new information added, including methodology for Monte Carlo implementation of mode destabilization. These results give explicit means of carrying out mode destabilization analysis, in particular for the dangerous fishbone mode. A new chapter on cyclotron motion in toroidal geometry has been added, with comparisons of the analysis of resonances using guiding center results. A new chapter on the use of lithium lined walls has been added, a promising means of lowering the complexity and cost of full scale fusion reactors. A section on nonlocal transport has been added, including an analysis of Levy flight simulations of ion transport in the reversed field pinch in Padova, RFX.Readership: Graduate students and researchers in the field of thermonuclear fusion.
Book

Magnetic Stochasticity in Magnetically Confined Fusion Plasmas (Springer Series on Atomic, Optical, and Plasma Physics)

Sadrilla Abdullaev
This is the first book to systematically consider the modern aspects of chaotic dynamics of magnetic field lines and charged particles in magnetically confined fusion plasmas. The analytical models describing the generic features of equilibrium magnetic fields and magnetic perturbations in modern fusion devices are presented. It describes mathematical and physical aspects of onset of chaos, generic properties of the structure of stochastic magnetic fields, transport of charged particles in tokamaks induced by magnetic perturbations, new aspects of particle turbulent transport, etc. The presentation is based on the classical and new unique mathematical tools of Hamiltonian dynamics, like the action--angle formalism, classical perturbation theory, canonical transformations of variables, symplectic mappings, the Poincaré-Melnikov integrals. They are extensively used for analytical studies as well as for numerical simulations of magnetic field lines, particle dynamics, their spatial structures and statistical properties. The numerous references to articles on the latest development in the area are provided. The book is intended for graduate students and researchers who interested in the modern problems of magnetic stochasticity in magnetically confined fusion plasmas. It is also useful for physicists and mathematicians interested in new methods of Hamiltonian dynamics and their applications.