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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document, dated 10 March 2010, was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency's Defense Warning Office under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program. It surveys the basics, experimental status, theory and possible uses of inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) fusion, with emphasis on work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It covers neutron sources, explosives detection and space propulsion. It ends by proposing a 12-gun hydrogen plasma experiment meant to show breakeven conditions for p-11B fuel.
From the source:Release of 2026-09-18 Incident: 3/10/10, Las Vegas, Nevada. Released with redactions. This document is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document (DIRD), a technical reference format used by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to capture baseline knowledge on a specific topic for later analytic use. DIRDs are best understood as reference and synthesis products rather than as original research. It is one of 38 DIRDs produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) between 2009 and 2011. Because AAWSAP’s scope permitted a broad range of supporting topics, not every DIRD in the series directly concerns aerospace systems or future threat assessment. The following summary reflects the DIRD’s scope and framing at the time of writing and should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed. This DIRD surveys inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) fusion, a relatively unconventional fusion concept that uses electric fields rather than the more established magnetic or laser-based approaches to confine ions, and it reviews both the underlying physics and the experimental work associated with the concept. The report emphasizes that IEC may have nearer-term value as a compact neutron, proton, or x-ray source and as a platform for studying experimental fusion approaches, while also presenting more ambitious possibilities such as aneutronic power generation and propulsion applications. At the same time, it makes clear that the concept remained far from practical fusion power, with experimental devices operating several orders of magnitude below breakeven and with major unresolved issues involving confinement, losses, grid damage, and scale-up. Overall, the document treats IEC as a technically interesting but still highly speculative path toward fusion energy, while suggesting that its more limited spin-off applications were more plausible in the near term than its long-range power generation or propulsion applications.
UNCLASSIFIED/ /POI\ OPPlelA:L liSI: 8,.LY REFERENCES 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. On 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 I nertial 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 fulfil lment 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 electrica l 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 re.actor first wall materials. Yet another novel use involves running the IEC with reverse polarity such that the trapped electrons produce soft x- 46 UNCLASSIFIED/ /5i0A 05i5ilQIAk Wli& 0NLY
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