Recommend topic about magnetic confinement in fusion

[Edward33]

Am going to write a scientific report about nuclear fusion related to magnetic confinement in ITER. Please recommend me aspects worth writing and having many materials. Thanks in advance.

 

[berkeman]

Am going to write a scientific report about nuclear fusion related to magnetic confinement in ITER. Please recommend me aspects worth writing and having many materials. Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the PF.

What research and reading have you done already? What does your outline look like so far? What things are special about ITER compared to past magnetic confinement systems and other experiments going on now?

 

[Astronuc]

Am going to write a scientific report about nuclear fusion related to magnetic confinement in ITER. Please recommend me aspects worth writing and having many materials. Thanks in advance.

One could use the Search feature to search the PF Nuclear Engineering forum for "ITER", or "fusion". There are a number of threads that address ITER or fusion, and one could ask questions about specific points.

 

[Edward33]

Welcome to the PF.

What research and reading have you done already? What does your outline look like so far? What things are special about ITER compared to past magnetic confinement systems and other experiments going on now?

Thx for your attention. I have read how the tokamak works and briefly read something about heat flux in first wall and divertor. I have not read much in terms of your last question.

 

[Edward33]

One could use the Search feature to search the PF Nuclear Engineering forum for "ITER", or "fusion". There are a number of threads that address ITER or fusion, and one could ask questions about specific points.

Thx a lot.

 

[the_wolfman]

Am going to write a scientific report about nuclear fusion related to magnetic confinement in ITER. Please recommend me aspects worth writing and having many materials. Thanks in advance.

The ITER Physics Basis https://fusion.gat.com/iter/iter-ga/iter_physics.htmll may be a good place to start. The first chapter is gives you a brief overview of various issues in magnetic confinement relevant to ITER. Each of the subsequent chapters addresses each on of the issues in much more detail. Depending on your current level of education these chapters may be too technical. But I think the overview is fairly accessible.

The ITER Physics Basis was published in 1999, and a lot of progress has been made since then and some of the information is outdated. There is a updated series of papers "Progress in the ITER Physics Basis" that was published as a special issue in the Journal Nuclear Fusion Vol 46, #6 (2007) [[http://iopscience.iop.org/issue/0029-5515/47/6 ]. This issue is behind a paywall, but if you're a university student you can probably get access through your library.

The has been a lot of progress in the 10 years that has passed since the "Progress in the ITER Physics Basis" was published. Unfortunately there hasn't been a Progress in the Progress in the ITER Physics Basis. I might be able to suggest a couple of more recent papers if there's a subject that you find particularly interesting.

 

[Edward33]

The ITER Physics Basis https://fusion.gat.com/iter/iter-ga/iter_physics.htmll may be a good place to start. The first chapter is gives you a brief overview of various issues in magnetic confinement relevant to ITER. Each of the subsequent chapters addresses each on of the issues in much more detail. Depending on your current level of education these chapters may be too technical. But I think the overview is fairly accessible.

The ITER Physics Basis was published in 1999, and a lot of progress has been made since then and some of the information is outdated. There is a updated series of papers "Progress in the ITER Physics Basis" that was published as a special issue in the Journal Nuclear Fusion Vol 46, #6 (2007) [[http://iopscience.iop.org/issue/0029-5515/47/6 ]. This issue is behind a paywall, but if you're a university student you can probably get access through your library.

The has been a lot of progress in the 10 years that has passed since the "Progress in the ITER Physics Basis" was published. Unfortunately there hasn't been a Progress in the Progress in the ITER Physics Basis. I might be able to suggest a couple of more recent papers if there's a subject that you find particularly interesting.

Thank you for your helpful advice. I would like to know more about magnetic confinement in fusion but there are many aspects which made me not know which one is more suitable to write and has abundant useful material to read.

 

[cmb]

I'd be interested to read a good text on magnetic confinement too, warts and all. I have read lots, and the central facts of the method of magnetic confinement seem to be hedged around and not answered directly.

The issue I can't seem to find an answer for is that a magnetic field can only push charged particles sideways according to how fast they are going, but in a thermal plasma there should be as many particles going one direction than the other, else it is not in thermal equilibrium. If you have as much magnetic force (on the mass of particles that make up the plasma) in one direction as the other (as the magnetic force is a function of the velocity of the particles) then how can it apply a containing force to a thermal plasma that wants to expand in one particular direction? It might slow it down from crossing lines of field, but it cannot 'confine', surely?

That might well mean that a fusion plasma is never in thermal equilibrium for it to be contained by a magnetic field, but that is not what the text I have read seems to be trying to infer. Those texts seem to imply that a thermal plasma in equilibrium 'can' be contained by a magnetic field. Maybe it is a generalisation and it is understood that it is not in equilibrium, because I don't see how if it is.