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Inertial Fusion Energy: Challenges and Opportunity
| Author: | Campbell E. M. |
| Coauthor: | |
| Institution : | General Atomics |
| Abstract text: | Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) is one of the two main approaches to controlled thermonuclear fusion. IFE employs a megajoule class driver that compresses energy in space and time to a mm scale target containing fusion (deuterium, tritium) fuel that is imploded to the ultra-high energy densities required for fusion. When successfully assembled, large fusion outputs exceeding the driver energy by ~50-to greater than 100 are produced. In \"single shot\" mode the physics of this process has numerous applications in science (laboratory astrophysics, shock and condensed matter physics, equation of state, radiation physics, relativistic plasma physics) and national security (maintaining the nuclear deterrence without nuclear testing). At high rep rate (~5 Hz), the fusion energy and average power can be utilized to generate electricity, nuclear transmutation and process heat for a variety of applications (hydrogen production, desalination, etc). This presentation will discuss the basic physics, the engineering physics and material science that are required for IFE. The path forward including the numerous challenges and opportunities for its realization will also be presented
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