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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Construction of quasisymmetric stellarators using a direct coordinate approach

In this work, optimized stellarator configurations and their analytical properties are obtained using a near-axis expansion approach. Such configurations are associated with good confinement as the guiding center particle trajectories and neoclassical transport are isomorphic to those in a tokamak. This makes them appealing as fusion reactor candidates. Using a direct coordinate approach, where the magnetic field and flux surface functions are found explicitly in terms of the position vector at successive orders in the distance to the axis, the set of ordinary differential equations for first and second order quasisymmetry is derived. Examples of quasi-axisymmetric shapes are constructed using a pseudospectral numerical method. Finally, the direct coordinate approach is used to independently verify two hypotheses commonly associated with quasisymmetric magnetic fields, namely that the number of equations exceeds the number of parameters at third order in the expansion and that the near-axis expansion does not prohibit exact quasisymmetry from being achieved on a single flux surface.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Improving the stellarator through advances in plasma theory

Improvements to the stellarator concept can be realized through advancements in theoretical and computational plasma physics. Herein, recent advances are reported in the topical areas of: (1) improved energetic ion confinement, (2) the impact of three-dimensional (3D) shaping on turbulent transport, (3) reducing coil complexity, (4) novel optimization and design methods, and (5) computational magnetohydrodynamic tools. Furthermore, these advances enable the development of new stellarator configurations with improved confinement properties.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Reply to Comment on ‘The advanced tokamak path to a compact net electric fusion pilot plant’

Abstract The Comment by Manheimer (submitted to Nucl. Fusion with this response) on our recent paper Buttery et al (2021 Nucl. Fusion 61 046028), has mischaracterized our paper with a series of misleading statements about its content, which it then seeks to refute. It also offers a series of assertions that are unsupported by refereed publication or scientific data—and sometimes in contradiction to the published record and well-established points in the scientific community. In this response we address the main thrusts and themes of the comment, while providing a point-by-point response in the appendix.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Impact of fusion reactor neutronics modeling for transmutation and thermal feedback *

Abstract Fusion neutronics calculations provide important metrics pertinent to fusion device operations, such as tritium breeding ratios (TBRs) and data on heat deposition, material activation, and damage. Because of the high computational burden required to generate a high-fidelity Monte Carlo simulation of a 3D fusion device, various assumptions are made to reduce computational time by simplifying the reactor model or the calculation iteration. This paper explores the impact of fusion neutronics metrics such as the TBR and decay heat of structural materials based on assumptions of material composition in the fusion reactor and temperature modeling of materials. Results show that for compact tokamaks with high power and long operational cycles, the transmutation of structural materials is significant enough to cause a substantial change in the flux spectrum and decrease the TBR by 1.68% after 2 years of full power operation. Additionally, assuming a constant temperature and material density can impact the TBR calculations up to 3%.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Large radiation back-flux from Monte Carlo simulations of fusion neutron–material interactions

Abstract Fusion power reactors will generate intense neutron fluxes into plasma-facing and structural materials (SMs). Radiation back-fluxes, generated from neutron–material interactions under these fluxes, can dramatically impact the plasma dynamics, e.g. by seeding runaway electrons during disruptions via Compton scattering of background electrons by wall-emitted gamma radiation. Here, we quantify these back-fluxes, including neutrons, gamma rays, and electrons, using Monte Carlo calculations for a range of SM candidates and first wall (FW) thicknesses. The radiation back-flux magnitudes are remarkably large, with neutron and gamma radiation back-fluxes on the same order of magnitude as the incident fusion neutron flux. Electron back-fluxes are two orders of magnitudes lower, but are emitted at sufficiently high energies to impact the sheath and boundary plasma dynamics. Material configuration plays a key role in determining back-flux magnitudes. The SM chiefly determines the neutron back-flux magnitude, while the FW thickness principally attenuates the gamma ray and electron back-fluxes. In addition to prompt back-fluxes, which are emitted immediately after fusion neutrons impact the surface, significant delayed gamma ray and electron back-fluxes arise from nuclear decay processes in the activated materials. These delayed back-flux magnitudes range from 2% to 7% of the prompt back-fluxes, and remain present during transients when fusion no longer occurs. During disruptions, build-up of delayed gamma radiation back-flux represents potential runaway electron seeding mechanisms, posing additional challenges for disruption mitigation in a power reactor compared with non-nuclear plasma operations. This work highlights the impact of these radiation back-fluxes plasma performance and demonstrates the importance of considering back-flux generation in materials selection for fusion power reactors.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Natural hot-ion modes in a rotating plasma

We report that in steady state, the fuel cycle of a fusion plasma requires inward particle fluxes of fuel ions. These particle flows are also accompanied by heating. In the case of classical transport in a rotating cylindrical plasma, this heating can proceed through several distinct channels depending on the physical mechanisms involved. Some channels directly heat the fuel ions themselves, whereas others heat electrons. Which channel dominates depends, in general, on the details of the temperature, density and rotation profiles of the plasma constituents. However, remarkably, under relatively few assumptions concerning these profiles, if the α particles, the by-products of the fusion reaction, can be removed directly by other means, then a hot-ion mode tends to emerge naturally.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Improving the feasibility of economical proton-boron-11 fusion via alpha channeling with a hybrid fast and thermal proton scheme

The proton-boron-11 (p-B11) fusion reaction is much harder to harness for commercial power than the easiest fusion reaction, namely, the deuterium and tritium (DT) reaction. The p-B11 reaction requires much higher temperatures, and, even at those higher temperatures, the cross section is much smaller. However, as opposed to tritium, the reactants are both abundant and nonradioactive. It is also an aneutronic reaction, thus avoiding radioactivity-inducing neutrons. Economical fusion can only result, however, if the plasma is nearly ignited; in other words if the fusion power is at least nearly equal to the power lost due to radiation and thermal conduction. Because the required temperatures are so high, ignition is thought barely possible for p-B11, with fusion power exceeding the bremsstrahlung power by only around 3%. We show that there is a high upside to changing the natural flow of power in the reactor, putting more power into protons, and less into the electrons. This redirection can be done using waves, which tap the alpha particle power and redirect it into protons through alpha channeling. Using a simple power balance model, we show that such channeling could reduce the required energy confinement time for ignition by a factor of 2.6 when energy is channeled into thermal protons, and a factor of 6.9 when channeled into fast protons near the peak of the reactivity. Furthermore, alpha channeling could dramatically improve the feasibility of economical p-B11 fusion energy.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Measurements of ion-electron energy-transfer cross section in high-energy-density plasmas

Here, we report on measurements of the ion-electron energy-transfer cross section utilizing low-velocity ion stopping in high-energy-density plasmas at the OMEGA laser facility. These measurements utilize a technique that leverages the close relationship between low-velocity ion stopping and ion-electron equilibration. Shock-driven implosions of capsules filled with D 3 He gas doped with a trace amount of argon are used to generate densities and temperatures in ranges from 1 × 10 23 to 2 × 10 24 cm –3 and from 1.4 to 2.5 keV, respectively. The energy loss of 1-MeV DD tritons and 3.7-MeV D 3 He alphas that have velocities lower than the average velocity of the thermal electrons is measured. The energy loss of these ions is used to determine the ion-electron energy-transfer cross section, which is found to be in excellent agreement with quantum-mechanical calculations in the first Born approximation. This result provides an experimental constraint on ion-electron energy transfer in high-energy-density plasmas, which impacts the modeling of alpha heating in inertial confinement fusion implosions, magnetic-field advection in stellar atmospheres, and energy balance in supernova shocks.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Alpha heating of indirect-drive layered implosions on the National Ignition Facility

We report in order to understand how close current layered implosions in indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion are to ignition, it is necessary to measure the level of alpha heating present. To this end, pairs of experiments were performed that consisted of a low-yield tritium–hydrogen–deuterium (THD) layered implosion and a high-yield deuterium–tritium (DT) layered implosion to validate experimentally current simulation-based methods of determining yield amplification. The THD capsules were designed to reduce simultaneously DT neutron yield (alpha heating) and maintain hydrodynamic similarity with the higher yield DT capsules. The ratio of the yields measured in these experiments then allowed the alpha heating level of the DT layered implosions to be determined. The level of alpha heating inferred is consistent with fits to simulations expressed in terms of experimentally measurable quantities and enables us to infer the level of alpha heating in recent high-performing implosions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Gromov ground state in phase space engineering for fusion energy

Phase space engineering by rf waves plays important roles in both thermal D-T fusion and nonthermal advanced fuel fusion, but not all phase space manipulation is allowed; certain fundamental limits exist. In addition to Liouville's theorem, which requires the manipulation to be volume preserving, Gromov's nonsqueezing theorem imposes another constraint. Here, the Gardner ground state is defined as the ground state accessible by smooth volume-preserving maps. However, the extra Gromov constraint should produce a higher-energy ground state. An example of a Gardner ground state forbidden by Gromov's nonsqueezing theorem is given. The challenge question is “What is the Gromov ground state, i.e., the lowest energy state accessible by smooth symplectic maps?” This is a difficult problem. As a simplification, we conjecture that the linear Gromov ground state problem is solvable.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Improved Particle Confinement with Resonant Magnetic Perturbations in DIII-D Tokamak H-Mode Plasmas

Experiments on the DIII-D tokamak have identi fied a novel regime in which applied resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) increase the particle con finement and overall performance. This work details a robust range of counter-current rotation over which RMPs cause this density pump-in effect for high con finement (H-mode) plasmas. The pump-in is shown to be caused by a reduction of the turbulent transport and to be correlated with a change in the sign of the induced neoclassical transport. Furthermore, this novel reversal of the RMP induced transport has the potential to signifi cantly improve reactor relevant, three-dimensional magnetic con finement scenarios.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Shifting and Splitting of Resonance Lines due to Dynamical Friction in Plasmas

We report a quasilinear plasma transport theory that incorporates Fokker-Planck dynamical friction (drag) and pitch angle scattering is self-consistently derived from first principles for an isolated, marginally unstable mode resonating with an energetic minority species. It is found that drag fundamentally changes the structure of the wave-particle resonance, breaking its symmetry and leading to the shifting and splitting of resonance lines. In contrast, scattering broadens the resonance in a symmetric fashion. Comparison with fully nonlinear simulations shows that the proposed quasilinear system preserves the exact instability saturation amplitude and the corresponding particle redistribution of the fully nonlinear theory. Even in situations in which drag leads to a relatively small resonance shift, it still underpins major changes in the redistribution of resonant particles. This novel influence of drag is equally important in plasmas and gravitational systems. In fusion plasmas, the effects are especially pronounced for fast-ion-driven instabilities in tokamaks with low aspect ratio or negative triangularity, as evidenced by past observations. The same theory directly maps to the resonant dynamics of the rotating galactic bar and massive bodies in its orbit, providing new techniques for analyzing galactic dynamics.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Piecewise Omnigenous Stellarators

In omnigenous magnetic fields, charged particles are perfectly confined in the absence of collisions and turbulence. For this reason, the magnetic configuration is optimized to be close to omnigenity in any candidate for a stellarator fusion reactor. However, approaching omnigenity imposes severe constraints on the spatial variation of the magnetic field. In particular, the topology of the contours of constant magnetic field strength on each magnetic surface must be such that there are no particles transitioning between different types of wells. This, in turn, usually leads to complicated plasma shapes and coils. This Letter presents a new family of optimized fields that display tokamak-like collisional energy transport while having transitioning particles. This result radically broadens the space of accessible reactor-relevant configurations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Conceptual Design of High Field Central Solenoid for Fusion Nuclear Science Facility

Fusion Nuclear Science Facility (FNSF) is a critical fusion nuclear step in the US beyond ITER before proceeding to a larger and electricity producing fusion power plant. Although FNSF is a steady state machine to be operated at high duty cycle, a high field and high current density central solenoid magnet is needed for plasma startups. Due to space constraints in the FNSF in-board radial build, the magnetic field and coil current density required exceed conventional low temperature superconductor (LTS) performance limits and the design can only be achieved by high temperature superconductors (HTS). The design for the central solenoid, also called the ohmic heating (OH) magnet for FNSF shall meet the 100 Weber double flux swing requirement for plasma startups. Finally, the stresses at such a high field and high current density coil may require a bucked and wedged TF-OH design to accommodate space for coil winding support structures in in-board system radial build for high field FNSF operations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Toroidal Field Reversing Switch

A motor-driven, high-current switch is being designed by Stäubli Electrical Connectors in collaboration with Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory to reverse the DIII-D Toroidal field coil current. The existing field reversing procedure requires approximately 4 h of labor performed between run days to reconfigure the bus work, thus requiring a separate run day to complete experimental scans with both field directions. This typically results in different wall conditions which complicate the results or make them invalid. The proposed switch will complete the reversal process in approximately 4-5 min, between shots, so that wall conditions are not a factor, and easily fits within the 10-12 min DIII-D shot cycle. The switch is a compact design fitting into a 157.5 × 41 cm envelope. The switch uses two copper pins that slide between Stäubli MULTILAM contacts. The switch is rated for total current of 180-kA dc for 10 s with a 12-min repetition rate; the maximum operating coil current is 124-kA dc. The switch diagnostics include: voltage drop, current monitor, thermal monitors, position sensors, and motor torque. Here, the switch is rated for 300 cycles per year, and 3000 cycles overall before contact replacement, with contact inspection yearly. The design details and operation of the switch are covered in this article.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Research and Development to Reduce Impurity Production and Transport of the Impurities to the Target in Linear Plasma Devices Using Helicon Plasma Sources

Linear plasma devices used to test plasma facing materials (PFMs) and components for fusion reactors are often suffering under the production of intrinsic impurities from the plasma source system. Most linear plasma devices use internal electrodes (hollow cathodes, reflex arc, or cascading arc), which typically are the source of the main impurities. The next-generation plasma generators use radio frequency (RF) plasma sources like helicons to avoid internal electrodes. However, high power operation of helicons has proven to result in impurity production due to the high rectified sheath voltages created. Depending on the plasma parameters and magnetic configuration, these impurities can be transported to the target and deposited there to unacceptable high levels. Here, in this contribution, the experimental results from Proto-MPEX are summarized, and the conclusions of the impurity source physics are given. Methods to reduce the impurity production, the impurity transport, and the net deposition on the target are presented. These methods to reduce the impurity production include Faraday screens to reduce the sheath voltage drop, high-Z refractory coatings to reduce the erosion yield, and wall conditioning methods. Methods to reduce the impurity transport include changes in the magnetic configuration as well as electron heating to change axial and radial temperature profiles. Preliminary results on the effectiveness of some of these methods are presented.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗