Ring power balance optimization in an EBT fusion reactor

Conference · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1979

OSTI ID:5208002

Uckan, N A; Borowski, S K; Batchelor, D B; Hedrick, C L; Jaeger, E F

The key element of the ELMO Bumpy Torus (EBT) concept is the presence of the relativistic hot electron rings (annuli) that are formed in each sector of the torus. If the plasma in a reactor is heated to ignition, the toroidal plasma heating will be turned off; the ring heating will, however, have to be sustained throughout the steady-state operation because these hot electron rings are essential for the stable operation of EBT. Therefore, the tradeoff between the quality of confinement afforded by the hot electron rings and the power required to sustain them represents an important consideration in a reactor. A simple power balance scheme for a reactor has been developed to determine the ring power losses on the reactor Q value. The results indicate that the drag cooling dominates the ring power balance for ring energies in the range of 100 to 600 keV. Although a broad minimum exists in the annulus power loss curves for optimization, the results are sensitive to the details of the scaling parameters assumed. Within the extreme cases of the assumptions, the overall system Q is in the range of 8 to 100. Detailed studies are under way to determine the dominant mechanisms that influence the ring performance.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA); Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 5208002
• Report Number(s): CONF-791102-170
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700101* -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Confinement
Heating
& Production
ECR HEATING
ELECTRON RINGS
ELMO BUMPY TORUS
ELMO DEVICES
ENERGY
ENERGY BALANCE
HEATING
HIGH-BETA PLASMA
HIGH-FREQUENCY HEATING
MAGNETIC MIRRORS
OPEN PLASMA DEVICES
OPTIMIZATION
PLASMA
PLASMA HEATING
Q-VALUE
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES