scholarly journals UKAEA capabilities to address the challenges on the path to delivering fusion power

2019 ◽  
Vol 377 (2141) ◽  
pp. 20170436 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. T. Chapman ◽  
A. W. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Fusion Energy ◽  
Magnetic Confinement ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Advanced Technology ◽  
Fusion Power ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Confinement Fusion ◽  
The Uk

Fusion power could be one of very few sustainable options to replace fossil fuels as the world's primary energy source. Fusion offers the potential of predictable, safe power with no carbon emissions and fuel sources lasting for millions of years. However, it is notoriously difficult to achieve in a controlled, steady-state fashion. The most promising path is via magnetic confinement in a device called a tokamak. A magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) power plant requires many different science, technology and engineering challenges to be met simultaneously. This requires an integrated approach from the outset; advances are needed in individual areas but these only bring fusion electricity closer if the other challenges are resolved in harmony. The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has developed a wide range of skills to address many of the challenges and hosts the JET device, presently the only MCF facility capable of operating with both the fusion fuels, deuterium and tritium. Recently, several major new UKAEA facilities have been funded and some have started operation, notably a new spherical tokamak (MAST Upgrade), a major robotics facility (RACE), and a materials research facility (MRF). Most recently, work has started on Hydrogen-3 Advanced Technology (H3AT) for tritium technology and a group of Fusion Technology Facilities. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Fusion energy using tokamaks: can development be accelerated?’

scholarly journals Fusion energy

2020 ◽  
Vol 246 ◽  
pp. 00013
Author(s):  
Francesco Romanelli
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Fusion Energy ◽  
Magnetic Confinement ◽  
High Heat ◽  
Fusion Power ◽  
Fusion Power Plant ◽  
Fusion Research ◽  
The Road ◽  
Confinement Fusion ◽  
On The Road

This paper presents an overview of the main challenges that fusion research is facing on the road to a demonstration power plant. The focus is on magnetic confinement fusion. Most of the challenges are being addressed in the context of the ITER construction and exploitation. These include the demonstration of high fusion gain regimes of operation, the management of high heat and particle loads and the integration of the main technologies of a fusion power plant. In preparation of DEMO, reliable solutions for the breeding blanket and neutron resistant materials have to be developed.

ASME Division IV Magnetic Confinement Fusion Energy Devices

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Sowder ◽  
Richard W. Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Work Group ◽  
Fusion Energy ◽  
Magnetic Confinement ◽  
Vacuum Vessel ◽  
Metallic Materials ◽  
Support Structures ◽  
Magnetic Confinement Fusion ◽  
Energy Devices ◽  
Confinement Fusion ◽  
Group Fusion

There is an on-going effort within the ASME Section III Codes and Standards organization approved by the ASME Board of Nuclear Codes and Standards to develop rules for the construction of fusion-energy-related components such as vacuum vessel, cryostat and superconductor structures and their interaction with each other. These rules will be found in Division IV of Section III entitled “Magnetic Confinement Fusion Energy Devices (BPV III)”. Other related support structures, including metallic and non-metallic materials, containment or confinement structures, fusion-system piping, vessels, valves, pumps, and supports will also be covered. The rules shall contain requirements for materials, design, fabrication, testing, examination, inspection, certification, and stamping. The formation of a new Work Group Fusion Energy Devices that will develop these rules is just beginning to develop its membership and future working group support structures.

scholarly journals Inertial confinement fusion: a defence context

2020 ◽  
Vol 378 (2184) ◽  
pp. 20200012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Randewich ◽  
Rob Lock ◽  
Warren Garbett ◽  
Dominic Bethencourt-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Inertial Confinement Fusion ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Fusion Energy ◽  
High Gain ◽  
High Energy ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Inertial Confinement ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Confinement Fusion ◽  
The Uk

Almost 30 years since the last UK nuclear test, it remains necessary regularly to underwrite the safety and effectiveness of the National Nuclear Deterrent. To do so has been possible to date because of the development of continually improving science and engineering tools running on ever more powerful high-performance computing platforms, underpinned by cutting-edge experimental facilities. While some of these facilities, such as the Orion laser, are based in the UK, others are accessed by international collaboration. This is most notably with the USA via capabilities such as the National Ignition Facility, but also with France where a joint hydrodynamics facility is nearing completion following establishment of a Treaty in 2010. Despite the remarkable capability of the science and engineering tools, there is an increasing requirement for experiments as materials age and systems inevitably evolve further from what was specifically trialled at underground nuclear tests (UGTs). The data from UGTs will remain the best possible representation of the extreme conditions generated in a nuclear explosion, but it is essential to supplement these data by realizing new capabilities that will bring us closer to achieving laboratory simulations of these conditions. For high-energy-density physics, the most promising technique for generating temperatures and densities of interest is inertial confinement fusion (ICF). Continued research in ICF by the UK will support the certification of the deterrent for decades to come; hence the UK works closely with the international community to develop ICF science. UK Ministry of Defence © Crown Owned Copyright 2020/AWE. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Prospects for high gain inertial fusion energy (part 1)'.

scholarly journals The progress and current status of Tokamak: a systematic review

2021 ◽  
Vol 292 ◽  
pp. 02067
Author(s):  
Yuxuan Song
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Energy Source ◽  
Recent Progress ◽  
Nuclear Fusion ◽  
Fusion Energy ◽  
Magnetic Confinement ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Confinement Fusion ◽  
History Of ◽  
State Of Art

Nuclear fusion energy is an ideal energy source for the future due to the clean and efficient features, first proposed by Russian scientists in the 1950s. With the successful construction and operation of a batch of tokamak devices globally, a series of major achievements have been realized in magnetic confinement fusion (MF). On this basis, the recent progress and current status of tokamak devices are systematically reviewed from academic literatures and official websites. To better demonstrate, the principle of MF and the history of a tokamak are introduced firstly. Subsequently, developments of four typical state-of-art tokamak facilities (JT60, FTFR, JET, EAST) are discussed detailly. These results offer a guideline for tokamak device construction and MCF realization.

High Precision Manufacturing and the British Economy

1986 ◽  
Vol 200 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
P A McKeown
Keyword(s):  
High Precision ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Advanced Technology ◽  
Machining Processes ◽  
Precision Engineering ◽  
Technology Products ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Manufacturing Engineering ◽  
The Uk

In Industry Year, this James Clayton Lecture appropriately addresses the field of manufacturing engineering and aims to contribute to a wider understanding of how our economy and standard of living critically depend on those who design, manufacture and sell the products of high quality necessary to compete in world markets. The two main thrusts worldwide, in manufacturing engineering are: Automation—in particular, computer integrated, flexible manufacture to reduce overall cost and lead time and in which CADCAM, FMS and CIM are crucially important technologies Manufacture with higher precision—on which a wide range of advanced technology products are totally dependent—and in which precision engineering, micro-engineering and nanotechnology are generally less well understood and practised than by our main international competitors The paper traces recent developments in precision engineering in general and several new and non-conventional high precision ‘machining’ processes in particular, including those by which ‘atomic-bit machining’ is possible. Principles and modern techniques for controlling the accuracy of tool to workpiece in two- and three-dimensional work-zones of high precision production machines are reviewed and illustrated. Today's precision engineering, which can be defined as work at the forefront of design and manufacturing technology, can also be expected to become the general engineering of tomorrow. Its importance to the future of the UK economy cannot be overstated.

scholarly journals Accelerating the Arrival of Fusion Energy within a Quintuple Helix Innovation Ecosystem to Address Climate Change

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Draper
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Fusion Energy ◽  
International Energy Agency ◽  
Innovation Ecosystem ◽  
Energy Agency ◽  
Sovereign Wealth Funds ◽  
Fusion Power ◽  
Continuous Innovation ◽  
Global Quality

In July 2019, the International Energy Agency established an independent Global Commission for Urgent Action on Energy Efficiency. In the world of fusion power development, in November 2018, a U.S. National Academies’ report on US fusion research recommended a national ‘burning plasma’ fusion power facility but also emphasized the private sector’s role in fusion innovation. In the same month, the Fusion Industry Association publicly announced its launch, indicating a level of private-sector industry maturity. Multiple FIA members boldly aim to accelerate fusion’s commercial deployment to approximately one decade, yet none are fully funded to overcome the ‘valley of death’ innovation-to-commercialization obstacle. Nonetheless, introducing fusion power (a ‘Future Fusion Economy’) in a 2030-2040 timeframe could contribute substantially towards transitioning from fossil fuels within this century and thereby contribute significantly to addressing climate change in the post-Paris Agreement period. This article applies the Quadruple and Quintuple Innovation Helix Ecosystem framework to this problem. We consider how Global South funding for entrepreneurship and innovation, via petrostates’ sovereign wealth funds, can accelerate the development and commercialization of fusion, through funding continuous innovation operations. We advocate a multi-sectoral and multilateral approach to accelerate fusion innovation, increase global quality of democracy, and protect the natural environment, via a managed co-opetive global solution like the IEA’s commission.

scholarly journals Developments in inertial fusion energy and beam fusion at magnetic confinement

2004 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
HEINRICH HORA
Keyword(s):  
Inertial Confinement Fusion ◽  
Fusion Reaction ◽  
Fusion Energy ◽  
Magnetic Confinement ◽  
Skin Layer ◽  
Inertial Fusion ◽  
Inertial Fusion Energy ◽  
Inertial Confinement ◽  
Fusion Reactions ◽  
Confinement Fusion

The 70-year anniversary of the first nuclear fusion reaction of hydrogen isotopes by Oliphant, Harteck, and Rutherford is an opportunity to realize how beam fusion is the path for energy production, including both branches, the magnetic confinement fusion and the inertial fusion energy (IFE). It is intriguing that Oliphant's basic concept for igniting controlled fusion reactions by beams has made a comeback even for magnetic confinement plasma, after this beam fusion concept was revealed by the basically nonlinear processes of the well-known alternative of inertial confinement fusion using laser or particle beams. After reviewing the main streams of both directions some results are reported—as an example of possible alternatives—about how experiments with skin layer interaction and avoiding relativistic self-focusing of clean PW–ps laser pulses for IFE may possibly lead to a simplified fusion reactor scheme without the need for special compression of solid deuterium–tritium fuel.

scholarly journals Impact of low NOx strategies on holistic emission reduction from a CI engine over transient conditions

2020 ◽  
pp. 146808742097388
Author(s):  
Adriaan van Niekerk ◽  
Benjamin Drew ◽  
Neil Larsen ◽  
Peter Kay
Keyword(s):  
Internal Combustion Engines ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Pilot Injection ◽  
Test Bed ◽  
Compression Ignition Engine ◽  
Fuel Blend ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Main Injection ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Gas Recirculation

The use of biofuels to replace fossil fuels as well as more stringent emission regulations for internal combustion engines cause a challenge for the engine manufacturers to build engines that can cope with a wide range of fuels, but still offer low exhaust emissions with no detriment to performance. In this work a test bed with a compression ignition engine has been used to measure emissions when using a ternary fuel blend between diesel, biodiesel and ethanol together with exhuast gas recirculation (EGR) and different fuel delivery techniques. EGR with biofuels have the potential to significantly reduce NOx over conventional diesel combustion. The fuel used, B2E9 achieves a 10% renewable content as set out in the UK government’s Renewable Energy Directive. Most studies reported in the literature evaluates emissions reduction technologies by only changing one factor-at-a-time at steady state conditions. This paper addresses these issues and presents a methodology utilising a Central Composite Design (CCD) analysis to optimise four engine parameters which include EGR percentage, main injection SOI, pilot injection SOI and pilot injection open duration over a transient drive cycle (WLTP) which makes the results more applicable to real world driving conditions. The optimisation of the CCD showed that NOx emissions decreases by 25% when the maximum exhaust gas recirculation is set to 45%, the main injection is retarded by 2 CADs, the pilot injection dwell time is set to 21 CADs and 24% of the fuel is delivered through the pilot injection. CO emissions increase by approximately 47% as a result of the decrease in NOx emissions.

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