An ICF (Inertial Confinement Fusion) power plant development program (open access)

An ICF (Inertial Confinement Fusion) power plant development program

The development of Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) as a power source will require demonstrating four principal objectives: ignition and propagating burn, adequate gain ({eta}G {approx gt} 10) at low drive energy for the reactor driver, reactor pulse rates of a few Hz, and the long-term reliability and economics of a reactor. Additionally, the potential value and applicability of special-purpose ICF reactors, such as tritium breeding reactors and reactors for burning high level fission waste (actinide and fission products) should be investigated. To keep development time and costs to a minimum these should be accomplished with as few major facilities as possible, and subsystems should be developed only as they are needed. A viable scenario for Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) would include establishing the first milestone in the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and Fusion Policy Advisory Committee (FPAC) recommended Nova Upgrade, and the latter three in an Engineering Test Facility (ETF)/Demonstration Power Plant (DPP), i.e. two major facilities. To be successful in so short a time, operations at the major facilities would have to be supported by off-line reactor driver and other technology development. The program plan discussed here assumes that enhanced funding is available beginning in FY 1992. It …
Date: June 5, 1990
Creator: Storm, E.; Hogan, W.J. & Lindl, J.D.
System: The UNT Digital Library