Assess and Benchmark Magneto-Inertial Fusion (MIF) Scaling. Final Technical Report for the SNL/Rochester ALPHA Follow-on Project
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
This project was a follow-on to the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) ARPA-E ALPHA project entitled “Demonstrating Fuel Magnetization and Laser Heating Tools for Low-Cost Fusion Energy”. The primary purpose of this follow-on project was to obtain additional data at the OMEGA facility to help better understand how MagLIF, a platform that has already demonstrated the scientific viability of magneto-inertial fusion, scales across a factor of 1000 in driver energy. A secondary aspect of this project was to extend simulations and analysis at SNL to cover a wider magneto-inertial fusion (MIF) parameter space and test scaling of those models across this wide range of input energies and conditions of the target. This work was successful in improving understanding of how key physics elements of MIF scales and improves confidence in setting requirements for fusion gain with larger drivers. The OMEGA experiments at the smaller scale verified the hypothesis that preheating the fuel plays a significant role in introducing wall contaminants that mix into the fuel and significantly degrade fusion performance. This contamination not only impacts target performance but the optimal input conditions for the target. However, analysis at the Z-scale showed that target performance at high preheat levels is limited by the Nernst effect, which advects magnetic flux from the hot spot, reducing magnetic insulation and consequently reduces the temperature of the fuel. The combination of MagLIF experiments at the disparate scales of OMEGA and Z along with a multiscale 3D simulation analysis has led to new insight into the physical mechanisms responsible for limiting target performance and provides important benchmarks to assess target scaling more generally for MIF schemes. Finally, in addition to the MagLIF related work, a semi-analytic model of liner driven Field Reversed Configuration (FRC) was developed that predicts the fusion gain for such systems. This model was also validated with 2D radiation magneto-hydrodynamic simulations and predicts that fusion gains of near unity could be driven by the Z machine.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Lab. for Laser Energetics
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- NA0003525: NA0003856; FOA-0001184
- OSTI ID:
- 1821532
- Report Number(s):
- SAND2021-8752R; 699563; TRN: US2301650
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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