OSIRIS and SOMBRERO Inertial Fusion Power Plant Designs, Volume 2: Designs, Assessments, and Comparisons

Meier, W.R.; Bieri, R.L.; Monsler, M.J.; Hendricks, C. D.; Laybourne, P.; Shillito, K. R.

doi:10.2172/836548

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Reactor concepts based upon inertial fusion physics seem to point towards similar system features [13–19]. In particular, these systems were designed with driver technologies that deliver 1–10 MJ to a fusion target, and feature target designs that yield of order 1 GJ/pulse.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How might controlled fusion fit into the emerging low-carbon energy system of the mid-twenty-first century?

Tynan

Abdulla

2020

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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We examine the characteristics that fusion-based generation technologies will need to have if they are to compete in the emerging low-carbon energy system of the mid-twenty-first century. It is likely that the majority of future electric energy demand will be provided by the lowest marginal cost energy technology—which in many regions will be stochastically varying renewable solar and wind electric generation coupled to systems that provide up to a few days of energy storage. Firm low-carbon or zero-carbon resources based on gas-fired turbines with carbon capture, advanced fission reactors, hydroelectric and perhaps engineered geothermal systems will then be used to provide the balance of load in a highly dynamic system operating in competitive markets governed by merit-order pricing mechanisms that select the lowest-cost supplies to meet demand. These firm sources will have overnight capital costs in the range of a few $/Watt, be capable of cycling down to a fraction of their maximum power output, operate profitably at low utilization fraction, and have a suitable unit size of order 100 MW e . If controlled fusion using either magnetic confinement or inertial confinement approaches is to have any chance of providing a material contribution to future electrical energy needs, it must demonstrate these key qualities and at the same time prove robust safety characteristics that avoid the perceived dread risk that plagues nuclear fission power, avoid the generation of long-lived radioactive waste and demonstrate highly reliable operations. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Prospects for high gain inertial fusion energy (part 1)’.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How might controlled fusion fit into the emerging low-carbon energy system of the mid-twenty-first century?

Tynan

Abdulla

2020

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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“…Depending on the driver type and fuel ignition method, driver energies in the range of several hundred kilojoules to several megajoules will be required to achieve high fusion energy gain from an ICF target [1,2,10,11]. Conventional drivers producing this total energy are massive, complex and, even in extrapolated reactor projections with optimistic assumptions of cost and performance, will likely cost a good fraction of a billion dollars [1,[3][4][5][6]12]. For space propulsion by ICF, the total mass of the driver system is of paramount concern and includes the driver itself, power supplies, the recirculating energy supply system and associated waste heat radiators (see, e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the utility of antiprotons as drivers for inertial confinement fusion

2004

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In contrast to the large mass, complexity and recirculating power of conventional drivers for inertial confinement fusion (ICF), antiproton annihilation offers a specific energy of 90 MJ µg −1 and thus a unique form of energy packaging and delivery. In principle, antiproton drivers could provide a profound reduction in system mass for advanced space propulsion by ICF. We examine the physics underlying the use of antiprotons (p) to drive various classes of high-yield ICF targets by the methods of volumetric ignition, hotspot ignition and fast ignition. The useable fraction of annihilation deposition energy is determined for both p-driven ablative compression and p-driven fast ignition, in association with zero-and one-dimensional target burn models. Thereby, we deduce scaling laws for the number of injected antiprotons required per capsule, together with timing and focal spot requirements. The kinetic energy of the injected antiproton beam required to penetrate to the desired annihilation point is always small relative to the deposited annihilation energy. We show that heavy metal seeding of the fuel and/or ablator is required to optimize local deposition of annihilation energy and determine that a minimum of ∼3 × 10 15 injected antiprotons will be required to achieve high yield (several hundred megajoules) in any target configuration. Target gains-i.e. fusion yields divided by the available p-p annihilation energy from the injected antiprotons (1.88 GeV/p)-range from ∼3 for volumetric ignition targets to ∼600 for fast ignition targets. Antiproton-driven ICF is a speculative concept, and the handling of antiprotons and their required injection precision-temporally and spatially-will present significant technical challenges. The storage and manipulation of low-energy antiprotons, particularly in the form of antihydrogen, is a science in its infancy and a large scale-up of antiproton production over present supply methods would be required to embark on a serious R&D programme for this application.

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Recent heavy-ion fusion power plant studies in the US

Meier

Waganer

1993

Nuov Cim A

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OSIRIS and SOMBRERO Inertial Fusion Power Plant Designs, Volume 2: Designs, Assessments, and Comparisons

Cited by 4 publications

References 5 publications

How might controlled fusion fit into the emerging low-carbon energy system of the mid-twenty-first century?

How might controlled fusion fit into the emerging low-carbon energy system of the mid-twenty-first century?

On the utility of antiprotons as drivers for inertial confinement fusion

Recent heavy-ion fusion power plant studies in the US

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