Controlled Nuclear Fusion

Bruno Soares Gonçalves

bruno@ipfn.tecnico.ulisboa.pt
President

Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear

Instituto Superior Técnico
Lisbon, Portugal
http://www.ipfn.ist.utl.pt

B. Gonçalves | November 2019 | IST

 Nuclear Fusion

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Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear fusion involves the merging of light elements

Nuclear fusion can provide a safe energy source with abundant reserves and
low environmental impact

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 Fusion reactions
D + T ® He 4 + n + 17.6MeV
D + D ® He 4 + n + 3.27 MeV
D + D ® T + H + 4.03MeV
D + He3 ® He 4 + H + 18.3MeV

Plasma
Temperature:
150 million ºC
(10-20 keV)
10x the core of
the sun

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Plasma Confinement

gravitational magnetic inertial

Magnetic confinement is the most promising for

energy production

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Deuterium-Tritium reaction

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Requirements for a useful reaction

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Compression: from a basketball to a pea

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How to compress with lasers

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Direct drive approach | How to compress with lasers

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Most powerful laser to date

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National Ignition Facility (NIF)

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Challenges | instabilities

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Challenges | laser energy going elsewhere

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Indirect drive | Hohlraum heating

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Typical sizes and numbers

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 Other approach | magnetic confinement

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Nuclear Fusion history
September 1958 “Atoms for Peace” (IAEA, Geneva): Fusion research declassified

L.A.Artsimovich E.Teller
Plasma physics is very Fusion technology is very
difficult. A worldwide complex. It's almost
collaboration is necessary for impossible to build a fusion
progress reactor in this century

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Nuclear Fusion history
First design: Stellarator
Very disappointing results (1950 - 1965): ~100 eV

B-3 stellarator
Princeton University

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Nuclear Fusion history
1968 - A turning point for fusion (Tokamak)

IAEA Novosibirsk Confirmed in 1969: mission from

(August 1968) Culham (UK) to Moscow
T3 reaches 1 keV

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 Tokamak | early 1960’s

World's first tokamak device

Russian
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TOKAMAK
From Russian:
toroidalnaya kamera, magnitnaya katushka |
Toroidal chamber with magnetic coil

Tokamak is a toroidal plasma

confinement system comprising:
Ø External coils that generate the
toroidal magnetic field
Ø Transformer that produces a toroidal
current
Ø The plasma current creates the
poloidal magnetic field lines resulting
in a helical field
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Tokamak

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R&D magnetic confinement

Tokamak Stellarator

EU is world leader

25
Tokamak configuration is favored
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Stellarators | Wendelstein 7-X
Major radius: 5.5 m
Minor radius: 0.53 m
Plasma volume: 30 m3

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Stellarator | W7-X

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Stellarator | W7-X

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Fusion device | JET

Vacuum vessel
Toroidal filed coils
(cooled)

Support
structure
(2600t)
Poloidal coils

…etc

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31 Author’s
B. Gonçalves EFDA-JET
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Joint European Torus (JET)
1980’s-2015?

Unique in the world with a capacity of

Nuclear fusion
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How to start a fusion plasma
Central solenoid creates an
electric field

GAS is added and ionised

plasma

During plasma growth PF

coils control plasma radial
position.

Other PF coils shape plasma

into diverted shape

Additional heating heats

plasma

Conditions for fusion are &Tritium

reached!

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JET plasma

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 JET in action | KLDT-E5WE - Video

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Energy confinement
How much time the energy stays in the system (house or plasma)
Why does the system loses energy

Confinement time W ~ density x temperature

house:
tE ~ 0.5-1 day
winter ~ 90-120 days

Tokamak plasma:
tE ~ 0.2-1 s (JET)
Plasma duration~ 30 s

Essential to
maintain heating!
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Demonstration fusion power
16.2 MW
(World Record)

Heating
Q = 0.65
25 MW

Q=0.65
16 MW
Q = 0.2
Fusion Energy

1.7 MW
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α-particle heating

Overal power balance

PH + Pa = PL Auxiliary
Heating

Ignition occurs when

plasma temperature Losses
can be maintained
against the energy losses a-particle
solely by α-particle heating
heating.
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Energy losses

Specific power (volt per cm3)

Plasma Temperature (k)

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Ignition | Lawson criteria

Occurs when plasma temperature can be maintained

against the energy losses solely by α-particle heating.
The previous equation provides the condition for
ignition, the requirement for plasma burn to be self-
sustained
12 𝑇
𝑛𝜏# >
𝜎𝑣 ℰ+

tE depends also on T but by coincidence in the temperature range 10-20 keV the
reaction rate is (within 10%)

𝜎𝑣 = 1.1×10012𝑇 1𝑚4𝑠 06, T in keV

Using eα = 3.5 MeV, the ignition condition becomes
8 # > 5×1016𝑚04keVs
𝑛7 𝑇𝜏
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Ignition | Lawson criteria

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But ignition requires

Heating systems

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Increasing temperature…

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Plasma energy confinement
Plasma turbulence affects the energy confinement time

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International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor

Mission
• Prove scientific and technical
feasibility of fusion energy

P = 500 MW, D = 300 s, Q = 10 – 20

• Test the integration of all the

technologies needed for a
nuclear fusion power plant

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International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor

Mega-project de R&D

21000 M€
30 years 10 years construction
20 years operation

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ITER | Factos & Figuras
80000 km
de supercondutor de niobium-tin (Nb3Sn) necessárias para
as bobines toroidais

360 t
Cada uma das 18 bobines toroidais . Peso de um Boeing 747-
300 completamente carregado

23,000 t
3 x a quantidade de metal da Torre Eifel (7300 t)

360,000 t
de betão nas fundações anti-sísmicas e paredes (~ peso
do Empire State Buiding)

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ITER | Factos & Figuras
10 milhões de componentes
10 x os componentes de um A380

150 milhões °C
10 x a temperatura do centro do Sol (temperatura da superfície
do sol 6,000°C)

840 m3

73 m
O Edifício do Tokamak será ligeiramente maior que Arco do
Triunfo em Paris ( 60 m acima da superfície e 13 m abaixo)

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ITER site @ Outubro 2016

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Example | ITER Tokamak pit

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Example | ITER (very tigth) concrete structure

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Example | ITER inserted plates

Inserted Plates
@ project 10000
@construction 100000
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ITER site in 2017

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ITER “first” plasma

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Superconducting coils

Efficient magnetic
confinement, requires
very high
magnetic fields

5-7 Tesla
ITER CS (top) & TF (bottom) KSTAR (South Korea) Toroidal
conductors with Nb3Sn superconductor coil
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The ITER TF Coils are gigantic!

360 t
each coil

68000 A
operation current

120000 Gs
magnetic field | 240000 x earth
magnetic field

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The ITER TF Coils are gigantic!

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Hot plasma and cold magnet
coils a meter away…

-10º C +40º C
- 268º C +100,000,000º C

Temperature difference Temperature difference

50º C
> 100,000,000º C
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Cryostat

ITER

KSTAR

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ITER Vacuum Vessel

2x bigger and 16x

heavier than any previous
tokamak

Operates at a temperature
just above 100°C
Made of 60 mm thick
special grade Stainless Steel
(13 m high, 6.5 m wide & 6.3 m
deep)

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Manufacturing ITER vacuum vessel

60 mm thick stainless steel

12.5 km of welding

Forming and welding at cutting edge 26

m welds/m2, 1 o/oo tolerance

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Fusion plasma parameters
JET as example

Core
T < 20 keV
n ~ 1020 m-3

Edge
T < 200 eV
n ~ 1019 m-3

Divertor
T < 50 eV
n > 1019 m-3
q ~ 5 MW/m2

ITER
q ~ 50 MW/m2

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 How hostile is the environment?

High levels of radiation and nuclear

heating near first wall and divertor,

e.g. ITER
• neutron fluxes ≤ 3х108 n/m2s,
10 x higher than in
• absorbed dose rate ≤ 2х103 Gy/s, present machines.
• plasma radiation ≤ 500 kW/m2
• Neutron heating ~ 1 MW/m3 Compared with 0
• pulse length of thousands of seconds 100 x higher than on
present day machines

Enormous end-of-life fluence levels

ITER: more than 100000x higher than
present machines

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 Plasma Facing Components

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Facing the Plasma -> High heat fluxes
Summer sunny day Space shuttle
1 kW/m2 (re-entry)
500 kW/m2

ITER Blanket
5,000 kW/m2

ITER Divertor
20,000 kW/m2
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Required properties for wall materials

CFC W Be Other
High Thermal conductivity / Cu alloy / Cu alloy

Good thermo-mechanical properties

X
(response to thermal shocks)
Low neutron activation V-Ti alloys
(neutron flux > 1017 m2s-1) X X
SiC as strucutral

Resistance to radiation damage

X
(to avoid swelling and embrittlement)
Low chemical affinity to hydrogen
X X
(no formation of volatile components)
Low accumulation of hydrogen
X X
(Tritium inventory must not exceed 0.35 kg
Reactivity with oxygen towards the
formation of stable non-volatile oxides X
(gathering of oxygen impurities)

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ITER Plasma Facing Components

Be
700 m2

W
100 m2

CFC
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Materials for plasma facing components

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71 JET ITER-like wall
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Basic Plasma-Wall Interaction Processes

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ITER example

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Plasma facing components
for future fusion devices

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ELM-resolved W melt front motion recorded for the first time
ELM-resolved W melt front motion
recorded for the first time

• W samples with sloped ridges exposed to 0

ELMy H-mode plasmas on AUG – up to the -2

Displacement (mm)
onset of melting by ELMs -4 a=g
-6

• Sequence of IR images allow one to -8

determine the melt velocity (≈ 0.35 m/s), -10

tELM
average acceleration (≳ 2 g), as well as the -12 a = 19 m/s2
trajectory of the transient melt front 0 10 20
Time (ms)
30 40

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 QSPA plasma gun exposure of a tungsten target
(J. Linke et al., FZJ)

melt motion

melt motion starts at

‘vertical cracks‘

High energy disruptions on DEMO

– High risk of major wall damage, in-vessel inspection may be required before restart
– Reactor operation with high availability requires very low disruption rate (< 1 / fpy)
à large improvement of control reliability needed as compared to JET average
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Pumped Divertor

High-energy plasma
particles strike the
components

Active water cooling

to handle extremely
intense heat flux.

Also important to extract

impurities and He-
ashes
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 To keep
the lights on

Nuclear Fusion
Power Plant
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Advantages of nuclear fusion

Clean Abundant

Fuel Years
Deuterium 3x1011
Lithium
Earth 30 000
Oceans 30x106

Waste free
+ =
45 l 1 unit 40 t
~200 000 kW h
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Advantages of nuclear fusion
Low Activation Competitive

80
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 ITER is a necessary step

JET ITER DEMO

12 m
Diameter (torus) 6m
80 m3 800 m3
Plasma volume
~ 16 MWth ~ 500 MWth
Fusion power

Present Future
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 Significant progress

ITER

Progresso
1980-1990
impressionante
Anos 80-90
n T tE

Uma década
One decade
após T3
after T3

1968

Comparable with computers and accelerators progress

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Nuclear Fusion Power Plant

2500 MW
Continuous operation
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Tritium Breeding Blanket

Li 6 + n ® T + He 4 + 4.8MeV

Li + n ® T + He - 2.5MeV
7 4

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 Blanket concepts considered in Eurofusion
PPP&T

Helium Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) Helium Cooled Lithium Lead (HCLL)
Concept Breeder/ Coolant T-Extraction Other
Multiplier 550
540
530 520
510

1
0
2
HCPB Ceramic Helium He low (Permeation 170

Breeder / pressure control)

Beryllium purging
HCLL PbLi Helium PbLi slow (Corrosion- 5 5 5 5 5

151

141

131

121
2

111
5 1
recirculation permeation 1
4
1
3
1 1 1

barrier)
WCLL PbLi Water PbLi slow (Corrosion-
recirculation permeation

104
barrier) 532
522
512
542

DCLL PbLi Helium PbLi fast FCI of

552

Poloidal axis

PbLi recirculation Allumina or

SiC/SiCf Radial axis

Dual Coolant Lithium Lead (DCLL) Water Coolant Lithium Lead (WCLL)
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How much Lithium will be required per year?

Li + n ® T + He + 4.8MeV
6 4

1 Gw 500 kg 70 kg
only 140 kg effectively
Power
Plant Li + n ® T + He - 2.5MeV
7
“burnt” 4

10000 5000 t
1Gw Power
Obtained from processing
Plants
~1/3 of world 70000 t of “normal” Lithium
demand

Lithium consumption by fusion can coexist with

demand for energy storage solution
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 Fusion Roadmap

Fusion Power Plants

Short-term Medium-term Long-term

Research ITER
on present First plasma Full performance
and planned
facilities,
analysis Consistent Commence Electricity
and concept construction production
modelling
DEMO

Material research facilities IFMIF/DONES

Stellarator as fusion plant?

Lower cost through concept improvements and innovations

Milestone

Horizon Europe

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Europe 2019
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ISTTOK @ IST

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ISTTOK
q In operation since 1991 at IST
q Density < 5 ´ 1018 m-3, Temperature < 200 eV
Fusion: 1 ´ 1020 m-3 , 20 keV

Objectives:
q Training students and engineers
q Development of diagnostics and new concepts: flexible, low
cost, short development time scales (collaboration with
several European laboratories)
q Research in Plasma Physics (edge plasma)

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It is all very interesting…

I
Fusion
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