We have carried out conceptual design studies of fusion reactors based on the three current mirror confinement concepts: the standard mirror, the tandem mirror, and the field-reversed mirror. Recent studies of the standard mirror have emphasized its potential as a fusion-fission hybrid reactor, designed to produce fission fuel for fission reactors. We have designed a large commercial hybrid based on standard mirror confinement, and also a small pilot plant hybrid. Tandem mirror designs include a commercial 1000 MWe fusion power plant and a nearer term tandem mirror hybrid. Field-reversed mirror designs include a multicell commercial reactor producing 75 MWe and a single cell pilot plant.

Machining of the A106B GTA and EB welded specimens was completed. Laser welding of the AISI 304L and ASTM A106B materials is continuing. Tensile testing of the ASTM A106B EB welded specimens was initiated and completed. Testing of the ASTM A106B EB welded material indicated generally lower ductility than the parent material. Low-cycle fatigue testing of the ASTM A106B material in 13.8 MPa hydrogen indicates reductions in mean life of approximately 50 and 27% due to the GTA and EB welding respectively. (LK)

Laser induced fusion is the forerunner of a class of inertial confinement schemes in which hydrogen isotopes are heated to thermonuclear conditions in a very short period. The process is characterized by such short time scales that fuel confinement is achieved through its' own finite mass and expansion velocity, approaching 1 ..mu..m/psec for ignition temperatures of order 10 keV (10/sup 8/ /sup 0/K). With current laser powers limited to several terrawatts one readily estimates, on the basis of energy conservation, target mass, and expansion velocity, that target size and laser pulse duration are on the order of 100 ..mu..m and 100 psec, respectively. Within these constraints, targets have been heated and confined to the point where thermonuclear conditions have been achieved. This paper describes a sampling of diagnostic techniques with requisite resolution (microns and picoseconds) to accurately describe the dynamics of a laser driven compression. As discussed in each case cited, these in turn provide insight to and quantitative measure of, the physical processes dominating the implosion. The success of the inertial confinement fusion program is strongly dependent on the continued development of such diagnostics and the understanding they provide.

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A large, new Mirror Fusion Test Facility is under construction at LLL. Begun in FY78 it will be completed at the end of FY78 at a cost of $94.2M. This facility gives the mirror program the flexibility to explore mirror confinement principles at a signficant scale and advances the technology of large reactor-like devices. The role of MFTF in the LLL program is described here.

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For this reactor a reference case conceptual design was developed in some detail. The parameters of the design result partly from somewhat arbitrary physics assumptions and partly from optimization procedures. Two of the assumptions--that only 10% of the alpha-particle energy is deposited in the plasma and that particle confinement scales with the ion-ion collision time--may prove to be overly conservative. A number of possible start-up scenarios for the field-reversed plasmas were considered, but the choice of a specific start-up method for the conceptual design was deferred, pending experimental demonstration of one or more of the schemes in a mirror machine. Basic to our plasma model is the assumption that, once created, the plasma can be stably maintained by injection of a neutral-beam current sufficient to balance the particle-loss rate. The reference design is a multicell configuration with 11 field-reversed toroidal plasma layers arranged along the horizontal axis of a long-superconducting solenoid. Each plasma layer requires the injection of 3.6 MW of 200-keV deuterium and tritium, and produces 20 MW of fusion power. The reactor has a net electric output of 74 MWe. The preliminary estimate for the direct capital cost of the reference design is $1200/kWe. A balance-of-plant study is …