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Defense Intelligence Reference Document Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion

Defense Intelligence Agency · 72 pages · text from the file's own layer

This Defense Intelligence Agency reference document, dated 10 March 2010, covers inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) fusion. It was produced in FY 2009 under the DIA's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) program. The report focuses on work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and reviews IEC basics, experiments, theory and applications such as neutron sources, explosives detection and space propulsion. It concludes by proposing a breakeven experiment for p-11B fusion that uses a hydrogen plasma simulation.

  • p. 5 …Grid and Two Jet Grids ....................................................................... 27 Figure 3.4. Dipole Reactor Propulsion Scheme ..................................................... 29 Figure 3…
  • p. 30 …a second jet offset 180 degrees from the propulsive one. The second jet would serve the…
  • p. 31 …or "plasma jet") at that location. Such operation has been routinely obtained in laboratory IEC devices…
  • p. 39 …Note that this concept, while having some similarities, differs in some details from Miley's jet…
REFERENCES
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4.1 W.M. Nevins, Can inertial electrostatic confinement work beyond the ion-ion
collisional time scale?" Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. IO, October (1995) pp. 3804-3819.
4.2 L. Chacon, G. H. Miley, D. C. Barnes, and D. A. Knoll, "Energy gain calculations
in Penning fusion systems using a bounce-averaged Fokker-Planck modelz" Phys. of
Plasmas, vol. 7, no. 11, (2000) p. 4547.
4.3 T .N. Tiouririne and D. C. Barnes, Optimization of SCIF Fusion Systems", Bull.
Am. Phys. Soc., vol. 40 (1995) pp. 1665.
4.4 I.V. Tzonev, J. M. DeMora, G.H. Miley, "Effect of Large Ion Angular Momentum
Spread and High Current on Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Potential Structures",
Proc. 16th IEEENPSS Symp. Dn Fusion Engr. (Miley and Elliott, eds.) IEEE paper
95CH35852, 1476-1481 (1996).
4.5 G.H. Miley and H. Momota, "Virtual Cathode in a Stationary Spherical Inertial
Electrostatic Confinement", Fusion Science and Technology, Vol. 40, July (2001).
4.6 H.J. Kim, "Instability Studies on a Spherical Inertial Electrostatic Confinement",
Dissertation, Submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirements of degree of Doctor of
Philosophy, NPRE Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
(2006).
4.7 T.H. Rider, "A general critique of inertial-electrostatic confinement fusion
systems", Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 6, June (1995) p. 1853.
4.8 G.H. Miley, John M. DeMora, Brian E. Jurczyk, Martin Nieto, "Computational
Studies of Collisional Processes in Inertial Electrostatic Glow Discharge Fusion Devices,"
18th Symposium on Fusion Engineering, (1999) p 23.
Section V. Potential Applications
The ultimate application for IECs is for electrical power production. This is discussed
further in Section VI. Section V concentrates on various near-term "spin off"
applications of neutron/proton/x-ray sources and also non-electrical power applications
such as space propulsion.
NEUTRON/PROTON/XRAY SOURCES
As seen from the discussion to this point, the main application of the IEC to date has
been as a small portable neutron source for NAA. In addition, since both D-D and D- 3He
reactions can be used for proton production, IECs have also been pursed for medial
isotope and PET scan isotope production. However, due to the need for high source
strengths to fully compete in this arena, that use is still undergoing research. Another
novel application noted earlier is the use of the IEC to simulate implantation of D+ and
He+ in candidate fusion reactor first wall materials. Yet another novel use involves
running the IEC with reverse polarity such that the trapped electrons produce soft x-
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 72 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.