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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.
“The Advance”12 pages
UNCLASSIFIED/ /P9R: 9PPl!ltllt t!l91!! 9HL'I' 5.3 G. H. Miley, R. Stubbers, J. Webber, H. Momota, "Magnetically-Channeled SIEC Array (MCSA) Fusion Device for Interplanetary Missions", Space Technology and Applications International Forum-STAIF 2004 (M.S. El Genk, Ed.) American Institute of Physics Conf. Proceedings (2004). 5.4 H. Momota, G. H. Miley, and J. Nadler, "Direct Energy Conversion for IEC Propulsions", Report to National Institute for Fusion Science of Japan, Report NISF- 641, ISSN 0915-633X, August (2000). 5.5 Y. Gu, M. Williams, R. Stubbers, G. Miley, "Pulsed Operation of Spherical Inertial- Electrostatic Confinement Device," Proceeding of 12th Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy, ANS, Reno, NV, 16-20 June (1996), pp. 1342-1346. Section VI. Possible Next Step Breakeven Experiment The prior sections have presented much information about the existing data base and theory for IEC operation. The potential for use in applications such as a neutron source and related radiation sources (proton and x-ray) are well established. However the ultimate goal is to develop a power-producing IEC. Better yet to do this taking advantage of the unique ability of the IEC to use non-Maxwellian plasma to burn advanced fuels to minimize radioactive and radiation emission involvement. However the best current device results are 5 or 6 orders of magnitude down in energy gain Q (energy out/ in) from breakeven. Thus it may appear that such a hope is many years off. Fortunately, the IEC can be scaled up in energy gain while keeping a small size since the losses are in velocity space (i.e. via ion upscattering out of the potential well trap). This is in sharp contrast to Tokomaks where loses occur via diffusion across the outer surface, so increased confinement times have been achieved by going to the massively large ITER type devices. The problems and costs for construction of ITER have thrown its development in to the distant future, making this approach ineffective for addressing the present energy crisis (or as a LLNL associate director recently bemoaned, "Fusion is irrelevant- no politicians even mention it in the energy scenario"). To provide the reader with some insight into the IEC "vision" for power, we next present a conceptual proposal for a near term IEC breakeven experiment to prove the physics of operation with aneutronic p- 11 B fuel. If such a program can be initiated aggressively, the IEC could have a major impact on the energy crises. DEMONSTRATION OF NET ENERGY GAIN USING IEC ANEUTRONIC FUSION The IEC is one of the few approaches to fusion that has the potential of burning aneutronic fuels such as D-3He and p- 11 B in a reasonable scale device. This fuel results in charged-particle reaction products which allow efficient use of direct energy conversion technology with no direct greenhouse emissions and minimal radioactivity or radioactive wastes. Such a power source has all of the features sought for future power plants needed worldwide to turn the tide of the growing energy crisis. The experiment proposed here would provide verifiable and reproducible proof of break-even conditions necessary to burn p- 11B as a practical aneutronic fuel in an IEC fusion power-generating device. 60 UNCLASSIFIED//FtHI 8FFHiil11J.k W&liii Ollk¥
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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.