Inertial Confinement Fusion Driven Thermonuclear Energy
This book takes a holistic approach to plasma physics and controlled fusion via Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) techniques, establishing a new standard for clean nuclear power generation. Inertial Confinement Fusion techniques to enable laser-drive
- PDF / 6,848,466 Bytes
- 324 Pages / 439.43 x 683.15 pts Page_size
- 103 Downloads / 203 Views
Inertial Confinement Fusion Driven Thermonuclear Energy
Inertial Confinement Fusion Driven Thermonuclear Energy
Bahman Zohuri
Inertial Confinement Fusion Driven Thermonuclear Energy
Bahman Zohuri Galaxy Advanced Engineering, Inc. Albuquerque, NM, USA
ISBN 978-3-319-50906-8 ISBN 978-3-319-50907-5 DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-50907-5
(eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016959978 © Springer International Publishing AG 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
This book is dedicated to my daughter Natalie Zohuri (MBA) She is always in Support of me and encourages me to write
Preface
Since the late 1940s, researchers have used magnetic fields to confine hot, turbulent mixtures of ions and free electrons called plasmas so they can be heated to temperatures of 100–300 million Kelvin (180–540 million degrees Fahrenheit). Under those conditions, positively charged deuterium nuclei (containing one neutron and one proton) and tritium nuclei (two neutrons and one proton) can overcome the repulsive electrostatic force that keeps them apart and “fuse” into a new, heavier helium nucleus with two neutrons and two protons. The helium nucleus has a slightly smaller mass than the sum of the masses of the two hydrogen nuclei, and the difference in mass is released as kinetic energy according to Albert Einstein’s famous formula E ¼ mc2. The energy is converted to heat as the helium nucleus, also called an alpha particle, and the extra neutrons interact with the material around them. In the 1970s, scientists began experimenting with powerful laser beams to compress and heat the hydrogen isotopes to the point of fusion, a technique called inertial confinement fusion, or ICF. In the “direct drive” approach to ICF, powerful beams of laser light are focused
Data Loading...
