Pulsed-power switching for inertial confinement fusion with light ion beams
Inertial confinement fusion requires 100 to 1000 terawatts of power be generated by sequentially storing and switching between 2 and 4 megajoules of energy to compress the pulse duration to approximately 10 ns. The status and promise of the switching technologies for light-ion driven inertial fusion are presented. Experiments on the Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator II (PBFA II) at Sandia National Laboratories will attempt to find the threshold for igniting thermonuclear fuel in the laboratory and -- if the threshold is within the range of PBFA II experiments -- to achieve ignition. These experiments are possible because of advances in electrically triggered and laser-triggered gas switching and in untriggered water-dielectric switching. The advances permit reliable operation of the 36-module PBFA II with module jitters of 4 ns and first-to-last spreads of 15 ns. The modules are combined in series and parallel combinations to give an effective asynchrony of /approximately/ 1 ns. The next major facility in the inertial fusion program will be the Laboratory Microfusion Facility for producing 200 to 1000 megajoules of thermonuclear yield. The laser-triggered gas switching and water-dielectric switching demonstrated on the Hermes III accelerator are adequate for this next step. The high efficiency and low cost of large pulsed-power accelerators result in a low cost reactor concept. Development of the high average power and high peak power necessary for 3- to 5-Hz operation will require further advances in high power switching. Saturable inductors offer a promising option. Photo-conductive semi-conductor switching offer the possibility of substantially reducing the number of required pulse compression stages. 22 refs., 3 figs.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 5723118
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-89-1270C; CONF-890796-3; ON: DE89016810
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International workshop on high power opening switches, Novosibirsk, USSR, 1-2 Jul 1989; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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ICF DEVICES
SWITCHING CIRCUITS
DESIGN
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
MARX GENERATORS
PARTICLE BEAM FUSION ACCELERATOR
SEMICONDUCTOR SWITCHES
ACCELERATORS
CONFINEMENT
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
POWER SUPPLIES
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
SWITCHES
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
700208* - Fusion Power Plant Technology- Inertial Confinement Technology