Energy From The Nucleus: The Science And Engineering Of Fission And Fusion

by Gerard M Crawley (Editor)

Overview

Nuclear energy is important both as a very large energy resource and as a source of carbon free energy. However incidents such as the Fukashima Daiichi nuclear disaster (2011), the Chernobyl disaster (1986), and the Three Mile Island accident (1979) have cast doubts on the future of nuclear fission as a major player in the future energy mix. This volume provides an excellent overview of the current situation regarding nuclear fission as well as a description of the enormous potential advantages offered by nuclear fusion including an essentially unlimited fuel supply with minimal environmental impact.Energy from the Nucleus focuses on the two main approaches to producing energy from the nucleus: fission and fusion. The chapters on nuclear fission cover the status of current and future generations of reactors as well as new safety requirements and the environmental impact of electricity production from nuclear fission. The chapters on nuclear fusion discuss both inertial confinement fusion and magnetic confinement fusion, including the new international fusion test facility, ITER. The expertise of the authors, who are active participants in the respective technologies, ensures that the information provided is both reliable and current. Their views will no doubt enlighten our understanding of the future of energy from the nucleus.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789814689199
Publisher:	World Scientific Publishing Company, Incorporated
Publication date:	10/03/2016
Series:	World Scientific Series In Current Energy Issues , #3
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

Table of Contents

Foreword to the World Scientific Series on Current Energy Issues v

Introduction to Energy from the Nucleus ix

Chapter 1 Fundamentals of Nuclear Fission Bertrand Barré 1

1 Introduction 1

2 Radioactivity, Fission, Fusion 2

3 How Does A Nuclear Reactor Operate? 6

4 Reactor Types 9

5 The Nuclear Fuel Cycle 10

5.1 Uranium resources 11

5.2 Exploration, mining, and concentration 12

5.3 Conversion and isotopic enrichment 13

5.4 Fuel manufacture (PWR) 14

5.5 Open cycle or closed cycle? 15

5.6 Reprocessing and vitrification 16

6 Economics 17

7 Non-Proliferation 19

7.1 Brief history 19

7.2 Proliferation and civilian nuclear technologies 20

8 Conclusion 21

References 21

Chapter 2 Current and Future Fission Power Plants Bertrand Barré 23

1 Introduction 23

2 "Generations" of Nuclear Reactors (Fig. 3) 26

3 Plants in Operation (Generation II Reactors) 27

3.1 Pressurized water reactors (PWRs) 27

3.2 Boiling water reactors (BWRs) 27

3.3 Gas-cooled reactors (Magnox, AGR, HTR) 28

3.4 Heavy water reactors (PHWR or Cauda) 28

3.5 Light water graphite reactors 28

3.6 Fast breeder reactors (FBRs) 29

4 Generation III 29

4.1 AP 1000 30

4.2 The evolutionary power reactor (EPR) 32

4.3 Other Gen HI plants 34

5 Generation IV Nuclear Systems 35

5.1 The Generation IV International Forum (GIF) 35

5.2 International Project on Innovative Nuclear reactors & Fuel Cycles (1NPRO) 37

5.3 Past breeders (SFR, LFR, GFR) 37

5.4 Other Gen IV Concepts 39

6 Small and Medium (or Modular) Reactors (SMR) 40

7 The Thorium Cycle 42

References 45

Chapter 3 Nuclear Safety and Waste Management Bertrand Barré 47

1 Nuclear Safety 47

1.1 Introduction 47

1.2 Barriers and defense-in-depth 48

1.3 The International Nuclear Events Scale (INES) 49

1.4 Three Mile Island, March 28, 1979 51

1.5 Chernobyl, April 28, 1986 54

1.6 Fukushima Daiichi 56

1.7 Lessons learned from Fukushima: The "Stress Tests" 60

2 Radioactive Waste Management and Decommissioning 61

2.1 Waste categories 61

2.2 Radioactive waste disposal 62

2.3 Decommissioning 63

2.4 The Oklo phenomenon 64

References 67

Chapter 4 Indirect-Drive Inertial Confinement Fusion Erik Storm John D. Lindl 69

1 Introduction 70

2 The Physics of ICF 71

2.1 Review of Basic Concepts 71

2.2 DT Burn Physics 73

2.3 Compression and Central Ignition 75

2.4 Fluid Instabilities, Mix and Low Entropy Implosions 77

2.5 Indirect and Direct Drive Approach to Hot Spot Ignition ICF 78

2.6 Alternative Ignition Concepts 81

2.7 Summary of ICF Target Performance 82

3 Progress towards Ignition with Laser Indirect-Drive ICF 83

3.1 Research - The first 40 Years 83

3.2 Laser Indirect-Drive Ignition Studies on the NIP 85

3.3 The High Foot Campaign 87

3.4 Adiabat Shaped Implosions 89

3.5 Rugby Hohlraum Implosions 91

3.6 Alternate Capsule and Hohlraums 92

3.7 Status of ICF Implosions on NIF 93

3.8 Extending NIF Ignition Designs to IFE 94

4 IFE Systems 95

4.1 Review of IFE basics 95

4.2 IFE Metrics 97

4.3 IFE Subsystems: Targets, Driver, Chamber, and Balance of Plant 99

4.4 Self-Consistent IFE Systems 102

5 Progress towards Technologies for Laser Indirect-Drive IFE 105

6 Conclusion 111

References 113

Chapter 5 Direct-Drive Laser Fusion John Sethian 121

1 Introduction 121

2 History of Direct-Drive Laser IFE Power Plant Concepts 125

3 The Justification for Developing the Laser Direct-Drive Approach 127

4 Reactor and Target Performance Considerations 128

5 Direct-Drive IFE Class Target Designs 130

6 Lasers for Direct-Drive Inertial Fusion 135

6.1 DPSSL laser state-of-the-art 136

6.2 KrF laser basics 137

6.3 KrF laser state of the art 138

6.3.1 Electron beam emitter (cathode) 138

6.3.2 Electron beam stability 138

6.3.3 Beam transport and deposition 139

6.3.4 Electron beam window durability 140

6.3.5 Electron beam window thermal management 140

6.3.6 KrF physics code 140

6.3.7 Efficiency 141

7 State of the Art of other Technologies needed for IFE 142

7.1 Final optical train 142

7.2 Target fabrication 143

7.3 Tar-get injection 144

7.3.1 Injector 144

7.3.2 Tracking 144

7.3.3 Survival into the chamber 145

7.4 The reaction chamber 147

7.4.1 Solid wall chamber 149

7.4.2 Magnetic intervention 151

7.5 Chamber breeding, tritium handling and power management 151

8 A Plan to Develop Laser Direct-Drive Fusion 152

5.1 The three phases of the development plan 153

8.1.1 Phase I: Develop full scale components 153

8.1.2 Phase II: The fusion test facility 153

8.1.3 Phase III: Build a pilot power plant 153

8.2 Description of the FTF 153

8.2.1 FTF target designs 154

8.2.2 FTF laser 154

8.2.3 The other components of the FTF and tritium breeding 155

8.2.4 The FTF as a material and component development platform 155

8.3 Timescale to deliver direct-drive IFE 156

9 Other Approaches to IFE 156

9.1 Heavy ion fusion 156

9.2 Pulsed power driven fusion 157

9.3 Fast ignition 157

10 The Path Forward 158

11 Glossary 159

References 161

Chapter 6 Magnetic Fusion Energy M. C. Zarnstorff R. J. Goldston 165

1 Overview 165

2 MFE Physics and Technology 170

2.1 Breakeven, gain and ignition 170

2.2 Magnetic confinement 172

2.2.1 Transport and turbulence 172

2.2.2 Stability 174

2.2.3 Sustainment 174

2.2.4 Plasma-material interaction 175

2.2.5 Neutron material interaction (including tritium breeding) 176

2.2.6 Magnets 176

2.2.7 Magnetic held configurations 177

3 Progress Toward Fusion Energy 179

3.1 National and international research facilities 179

3.2 Theory and modeling 181

4 Development Plans and Design Studies 181

4.1 National and international development of fusion energy 181

4.2 Private development, of fusion energy 186

5 Summary 186

References 187

Chapter 7 Creating A Star - The Global ITER Partnership M. Ukran 189

1 Introduction 189

2 The ITER Partnership 191

2.1 From INTOR to ITER 191

2.2 Provisions of the joint implementation agreement (JIA) 193

3 Project Life Cycle 193

3.1 Design and construction phase 194

3.2 Operations phase 194

3.3 Decommissioning phase 194

4 Fusion R&D laboratory complex, St. Paul-lez-Durance, France 194

5 Status of the JTER Project (2015) 195

6 Tokamak Design 198

7 Major Elements and Distributed Systems 200

8 Power Supply 201

8.1 Pulsed load 202

8.2 Superconducting magnets 202

9 TF Coils 205

10 PF Coils 206

10.1 Correction coils 207

10.2 Central solenoid 207

10.3 Vacuum vessel and internal elements 209

10.4 Blanket system 210

10.5 In-vessel coils 211

10.6 Divertor 211

10.7 Cryostat and thermal shield 213

10.8 Fueling 213

10.9 Plasma heating 215

10.10 System cooling 216

10.11 Biological shield 216

10.12 Instrumentation & controls 218

10.13 Diagnostic instruments 218

10.14 Control, Data Access, and Communication (CODAC) 219

11 Research Plan 220

12 Safety and Licensing 223

13 The Coining Era of Burning Hydrogen Plasma 225

References 227

About the Contributors 229

Index 235