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- Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!faqserv
- From: rfheeter@pppl.gov
- Newsgroups: sci.physics.fusion,sci.answers,news.answers
- Subject: Conventional Fusion FAQ Section 0/11 (Intro) Part 2/3 (Outline)
- Supersedes: <fusion-faq/section0-intro/part2-outline_934723436@rtfm.mit.edu>
- Followup-To: sci.physics.fusion
- Date: 14 Nov 1999 10:27:44 GMT
- Organization: none
- Lines: 210
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
- Expires: 26 Feb 2000 10:24:18 GMT
- Message-ID: <fusion-faq/section0-intro/part2-outline_942575058@rtfm.mit.edu>
- Reply-To: rfheeter@pppl.gov
- NNTP-Posting-Host: penguin-lust.mit.edu
- Summary: This part outlines the Conventional Fusion FAQ.
- Fusion energy represents a promising alternative to
- fossil fuels and nuclear fission for world energy
- production. This FAQ answers Frequently Asked Questions
- (from the sci.physics.fusion newsgroup) about conventional
- areas of fusion energy research. It also provides other
- useful information about the subject. This FAQ does NOT
- discuss unconventional forms of fusion (like Cold Fusion).
- X-Last-Updated: 1995/02/26
- Originator: faqserv@penguin-lust.MIT.EDU
- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu sci.physics.fusion:44324 sci.answers:10875 news.answers:170947
-
- Archive-name: fusion-faq/section0-intro/part2-outline
- Last-modified: 26-Feb-1995
- Posting-frequency: More-or-less-quarterly
-
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
- ### Outline and List of Questions in the Conventional Fusion FAQ
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- # Written/Edited by Robert F. Heeter, rfheeter@pppl.gov.
-
- # (Outline subject to change; this list current on February 26, 1995)
-
- *** 1. Fusion as a Physical Phenomenon:
- [Archive-name: fusion-faq/section1-physics]
- A. What is fusion?
- B. How does fusion release energy?
- C. Where does fusion occur in nature?
- D. Why doesn't fusion occur anywhere else in nature?
- E. What are the basic fusion reactions?
- F. Could you tell me more about these different elements?
- G. Why is the deuterium-tritium (D-T) reaction the easiest?
- H. What is aneutronic fusion?
- I. What sort of fusion reactor is the sun?
- J. Why is it so hard to create controlled man-made fusion reactions?
- K. What is plasma physics, and how is it related to fusion?
- L. Just how hot and confined do these plasmas need to be?
- (Or, what conditions are needed for controlled fusion?)
- M. What are the basic approaches used to heat and confine
- the plasma? (Or, what is magnetic confinement?
- Inertial confinement?)
-
- *** 2. Fusion as a Future Energy Source:
- 2.1 Technical Characteristics
- [Archive-name: fusion-faq/section2-energy/part1-tech]
- A. What would a fusion energy plant look like?
- B. What fuels can a fusion reactor burn?
- C. What are the different methods for converting fusion energy
- to useful energy?
- D. What would a D-T fusion reactor look like?
- E. How do you get the plasma hot enough for fusion to occur?
- F. What are the materials requirements for fusion?
- G. Are any of these materials scarce?
- H. How large would a fusion reactor be? Why?
- 2.2 Environmental Characteristics
- [Archive-name: fusion-faq/section2-energy/part2-enviro]
- A. What are fusion's major potential environmental advantages?
- B. But isn't fusion nuclear? What about radioactive waste?
- C. What key technologies are needed to achieve these advantages?
- D. What are the materials and fuel requirements for fusion?
- E. What about renewable energy sources?
- Why do we need fusion at all?
- 2.3 Safety Characteristics Economic Characteristics
- (Under construction)
- 2.4 Economic Characteristics
- (Under construction)
- 2.5 Fusion for Space Applications
- (Under construction)
-
- *** 3. Fusion as a Scientific Research Program
- 3.1 Chronology of Events and Ideas
- (Under construction)
- When did fusion research begin?
- When was fusion research declassified?
- What is the current state of fusion research?
- Close / far from achieving practical benefits?
- 3.2 Major Institutes and Policy Actors
- (Under construction)
- Who is doing fusion, and where? (funds distribution?)
- What level of international cooperation is there?
- 3.3 History of Achievements and Funding
- (Under construction)
- What is the history of fusion funding (US, FUSSR, EC, Japan)?
- What is the history of achievement of fusion parameters?
-
- *** 4. Methods of Confinement /
- Approaches to fusion:
- 4.1 Toroidal Magnetic Confinement Approaches
- (Under construction)
- A. What is a tokamak / how does it work?
- B. What is a stellarator / " " " " ?
- C. " " reversed-field pinch / " " " " ?
- D. What is a Field-Reversed Configuration / how does it work?
- E. " " " Plasmak / " " " " ?
- F. What is a Migma / how does it work?
- 4.2 Alternative Confinement Methods / Approaches
- (Under construction)
- A. Gravitational Confinement
- B. Inertial Confinement
- C. Mirror Confinemen
- D. Muon-catalyzed Fusion
- E. Electrostatic Confinement
- F. What about the pinch methods?
- G. What are some other confinement approaches?
-
- *** 5. Status of and plans for Present Devices:
- [Archive-name: fusion-faq/section5-devices]
- A. Flagship Tokamaks
- 1. ITER: (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor)
- 2. JET: (Joint European Torus)
- 3. JT-60: (Japan Tokamak (?))
- 4. TFTR: (Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor)
- 5. TPX: (Tokamak Physics Experiment)
- B. Medium to Large Tokamaks
- 1. Alcator C-Mod:
- 2. ASDEX-U: (Axially Symmetric Divertor EXperiment-Upgrade)
- 3. DIII-D: (Doublet III, D-shape)
- 4. FT: (Frascati Tokamak)
- 5. NSTX: (National Spherical Tokamak eXperiment)
- 6. PBX-M: (Princeton Beta Experiment-Modified)
- 7. TCV: (Variable Configuration Tokamak - in French)
- 8. TdeV: (Tokamak de Varenne)
- 9. TEXTOR:
- 10. Tore Supra:
- C. Small Tokamaks
- 1: CDX-U (Current Drive eXperiment-Upgrade)
- 2. START: (Small, Tight-Aspect-Ratio Tokamak)
- 3. TEXT-U: (Texas Experimental Tokamak-Upgrade?)
- D. Stellarators
- 1. ATF (Advanced Toroidal Facility)
- 2. Wendelstein-7AS: (Advanced Stellarator)
- 3. Wendelstein-7X
- E. Inertial Confinement
- 1. NIF: (National Ignition Facility)
- 2. Nova:
- 3. Omega:
- 4. NIKE:
- F. Alternative Methods
- 1. Electrostatic Confinement:
- 2. MFTF: Mirror Fusion Test Facility:
- 3. Muon-Catalyzed Fusion
- 4. Plasmak:
- 5. RFX: (Reversed-Field eXperiment)
-
- *** 6. Recent Results
- [Archive-name: fusion-faq/section6-results]
- A. Recent Results on TFTR:
- (a) What was done?
- (b) Why does it matter?
- B. Recent Results from JET
- C. Recent Results from Inertial Confinement Fusion
- D. Recent Results from Muon-Catalyzed Fusion
- E. Recent major results from other experiments, and theoretical work
- F. Recent Political News
- G. Appendix on TFTR and JET results
-
- *** 7. Educational Issues and Conferences:
- [Archive-name: fusion-faq/section7-education]
- A. What opportunities are there for interested students?
- B. I'm an undergraduate interested in becoming a "fusioneer."
- What should I study?
- C. What sorts of experiments are there for high-school students?
- How can I get the equipment? Has anyone else done this?
- D. What about those summer programs you mentioned above?
- E. When/where are the major fusion conferences?
-
- *** 8. Internet Resources:
- [Archive-name: fusion-faq/section8-internet]
- A. Newsgroups
- B. WAIS (Wide-Area-Information-Server)
- C. World-Wide Web
- D. Gopher
- E. Anonymous FTP Sites
- F. Listservers
- G. Electronic Bulletins
- H. Individuals Willing to Provide Additional Information
-
- *** 9. Future Plans:
- (Under construction)
- (a) Plans for TPX?
- (b) Plans for ITER?
- (c) Prospects for funding? (US, EC, Japan, FUSSR)
- (d) What problems in designing a fusion powerplant?
- Rad waste, materials choices, device parameters ???
- (e) What are the key research problems/opportunities?
-
- *** 10. Bibliography / Reading List
- [Archive-name: fusion-faq/section10-biblio]
- A. Recent articles in the popular literature.
- B. General References and Histories
- (suitable for those with minimal background in physics or fusion).
- C. Fusion Research Review Articles & Texts
- D. Plasma Physics - General Texts
- (focus is on the science of plasmas, rather than engineering reactors)
- E. Plasma Physics - Device-Specific
- (applications of plasma physics to specific devices)
- F. Fusion Reactor Engineering References
- G. List of Relevant Scientific Journals
- H. Unclassified / Unsummarized works. (Please help me move
- references out of this section and into sections 1-4 by
- contributing reviews of sources you know about!)
-
- *** 11. Acknowledgements and Citations
- [Archive-name: fusion-faq/section11-acknowledgements]
- (I've had a lot of help, so I needed a separate section to list everyone!)
-
- *** Glossary of Frequently Used Terms in Plasma Physics
- and Fusion Energy Research (FUT)
- Part 0/26: Introduction to the Glossary / FUT
- [Archive-name: fusion-faq/glossary/part0-intro]
-
- Parts 1/26, 2/26, ..., 26/26:
- Glossary terms from A to Z (one file per letter)
- [ Archive-names: fusion-faq/glossary/a
- fusion-faq/glossary/b
- ...
- fusion-faq/glossary/z ]
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