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Radio-frequency current drive for thermonuclear fusion reactors
Principal research on energy from thermonuclear fusion uses Deuterium-Tritium plasmas magnetically trapped in toroidal devices. As major scientific problem for an economic (i.e., really feasible) reactor, we must understand how to lead strongly heated plasmas to sustain a high fusion gain while larg...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group UK
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6037805/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29985450 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27996-9 |
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author | Cardinali, A. Castaldo, C. Cesario, R. Amicucci, L. Galli, A. Napoli, F. Panaccione, L. Riccardi, C. Santini, F. Schettini, G. Tuccillo, A. A. |
author_facet | Cardinali, A. Castaldo, C. Cesario, R. Amicucci, L. Galli, A. Napoli, F. Panaccione, L. Riccardi, C. Santini, F. Schettini, G. Tuccillo, A. A. |
author_sort | Cardinali, A. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Principal research on energy from thermonuclear fusion uses Deuterium-Tritium plasmas magnetically trapped in toroidal devices. As major scientific problem for an economic (i.e., really feasible) reactor, we must understand how to lead strongly heated plasmas to sustain a high fusion gain while large fraction of current is self-produced via the presence of strong pressure gradient. To suppress turbulent eddies that impair thermal insulation and pressure tight of the plasma, current drive (CD) is necessary. However, tools envisaged so far in ITER (International Thermonuclear Experiment Rector) are unable accomplishing this task that requires efficiently and flexibly matching the natural current profiles of plasma. Consequently, viability of a thermonuclear reactor should be problematic. Multi-megawatt radio-frequency (RF) power coupled to plasma would produce the necessary CD, but modelling results based on previous understanding found difficult the extrapolation of this CD concept to reactor conditions of high temperature plasma, and greater flexibility of method would also be required. Here we present new model results based on standard quasilinear (QL) theory that allow establish conditions to drive efficiently and flexibly the RF-driven current at large radii of the plasma column, as necessary for the goal of a reactor. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6037805 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | Nature Publishing Group UK |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-60378052018-07-12 Radio-frequency current drive for thermonuclear fusion reactors Cardinali, A. Castaldo, C. Cesario, R. Amicucci, L. Galli, A. Napoli, F. Panaccione, L. Riccardi, C. Santini, F. Schettini, G. Tuccillo, A. A. Sci Rep Article Principal research on energy from thermonuclear fusion uses Deuterium-Tritium plasmas magnetically trapped in toroidal devices. As major scientific problem for an economic (i.e., really feasible) reactor, we must understand how to lead strongly heated plasmas to sustain a high fusion gain while large fraction of current is self-produced via the presence of strong pressure gradient. To suppress turbulent eddies that impair thermal insulation and pressure tight of the plasma, current drive (CD) is necessary. However, tools envisaged so far in ITER (International Thermonuclear Experiment Rector) are unable accomplishing this task that requires efficiently and flexibly matching the natural current profiles of plasma. Consequently, viability of a thermonuclear reactor should be problematic. Multi-megawatt radio-frequency (RF) power coupled to plasma would produce the necessary CD, but modelling results based on previous understanding found difficult the extrapolation of this CD concept to reactor conditions of high temperature plasma, and greater flexibility of method would also be required. Here we present new model results based on standard quasilinear (QL) theory that allow establish conditions to drive efficiently and flexibly the RF-driven current at large radii of the plasma column, as necessary for the goal of a reactor. Nature Publishing Group UK 2018-07-09 /pmc/articles/PMC6037805/ /pubmed/29985450 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27996-9 Text en © The Author(s) 2018 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
spellingShingle | Article Cardinali, A. Castaldo, C. Cesario, R. Amicucci, L. Galli, A. Napoli, F. Panaccione, L. Riccardi, C. Santini, F. Schettini, G. Tuccillo, A. A. Radio-frequency current drive for thermonuclear fusion reactors |
title | Radio-frequency current drive for thermonuclear fusion reactors |
title_full | Radio-frequency current drive for thermonuclear fusion reactors |
title_fullStr | Radio-frequency current drive for thermonuclear fusion reactors |
title_full_unstemmed | Radio-frequency current drive for thermonuclear fusion reactors |
title_short | Radio-frequency current drive for thermonuclear fusion reactors |
title_sort | radio-frequency current drive for thermonuclear fusion reactors |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6037805/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29985450 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27996-9 |
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