Nuclear Fusion - Lecture on Riders' 95 MIT Work - Limits on Certain Reactors

Описание: In 1990's, a small group of plasma physics theoreticians got into an argument about the basic viability of a whole class of fusion reactors; ones where the plasmas were not in thermodynamic equilibrium. Globally, almost nobody noticed. But, today, with Billions pouring into the nuclear fusion industry, I thought it was worth re-examining this bit of theory work to understand why people saw these machines as limited. As you will see, this is a bunch of theory and math - with limits and assumptions - that could easily be supplanted by real-world data from real experiments. Still the physical effects describe are real problems for several fusion reactor designs. We are still waiting to see how this all plays out.

The paper I will be going over is "A General Critique of Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion Systems" TH Rider, Physics of Plasma, 1995. You can download a copy here (https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6d26...) to follow along.

You can see Andrew Chap's modeling work on his YouTube channel here:
   / @andrewchap4565  

There are also a number of other papers referenced in this lecture, these are listed below:

Bussard Work:
“The Polywell: A Spherically Convergent Ion Focus Concept” N. Krall Fusion Technology, Vol 22, August 1992.
R. W. Bussard, Fusion Technology., Vol 19, 273 (1991)
Bussard, Robert W., and Katherine E. King. Bremsstrahlung and Synchrotron Radiation Losses in Polywell Systems. DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY ARLINGTON VA, 1991.
Should Google Go Nuclear? Clean, Cheap, Nuclear Power. Perf. Dr. Robert Bussard. Google Tech Talks. YouTube, 9 Nov. 2206. Web. 15 Sept. 2010.
Bussard, Robert W. "The advent of clean nuclear fusion: Super performance space power and propulsion." 57th International Astronautical Congress. 2006.

Rider Work & Related:
Rider, Todd H. "A General Critique of Inertial-electrostatic Confinement Fusion Systems.“ Physics of Plasmas 6.2 (1995): 1853-872. Print.
Rider, Todd H. "Fundamental limitations on plasma fusion systems not in thermodynamic equilibrium." Physics of Plasmas 4.4 (1997): 1039-1046.
Rider, Todd H., and Peter J. Catto. "Modification of classical Spitzer ion–electron energy transfer rate for large ratios of ion to electron temperatures." Physics of Plasmas 2.6 (1995): 1873-1885.
Rider, Todd H., and Peter J. Catto. "Modification of Classical Spitzer Ion-electron Energy Transfer Rate for Large Ratios of Ion to Electron Temperatures." Physics of Plasmas 2.6 (1995): 1873-885. Print.

Rider Work & Related:
Catto, Peter J., and Xing Zhong Li. "Particle loss rates from electrostatic wells of arbitrary mirror ratios." The Physics of fluids 28.1 (1985): 352-357.
Nevins, W. M. "Can inertial electrostatic confinement work beyond the ion–ion collisional time scale?." Physics of Plasmas 2.10 (1995): 3804-3819.
Rider, Todd H. "Fundamental Limitations on Advanced-Fuel Fusion." APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts. 1998.
George Miley, Chacon & Rostoker Response:
Rostoker, Norman, et al. "Fundamental limitations on plasma systems not in thermodynamic equilibrium." APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts. Vol. 43. 2001.
Chacon, L., et al. "Energy gain calculations in Penning fusion systems using a bounce-averaged Fokker–Planck model." Physics of Plasmas 7.11 (2000): 4547-4560.
Barnes, D. C., Schauer, M. M., Umstadter, K. R., Chacon, L., & Miley, G. (2000). Electron equilibrium and confinement in a modified Penning trap and its application to Penning fusion. Physics of Plasmas, 7(5), 1693-1701.

Modeling References:
J. Huba. “NRL Plasma Formulary” Printed 2009.
Spitzer, Lyman. Physics of fully ionized gases. Courier Corporation, 2006.
H.P. Furth, Physics of fluids 6, 48 (1963).
R H Cohen, I B Bernstein JJ Dorning and G Rowlands, Nuclear Fusion 20, 1421 (1980)
DV Sivukhin, Reviews of Plasma Physics edited by MA Leontovich (Consultants Bureau, New York, 1966) Vol 4.