Atlas for magneto-inertial fusion

Richard E. Siemon
6th Symposium CURRENT TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL FUSION RESEARCH: A REVIEW 7-11 March 2005, Washington, DC, U.S.A.

Synopsis
Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) is the approach to fusion energy that is intermediate in parameters between conventional magnetic and conventional inertial fusion. Typical parameters are microsecond time scales, megabar pressures, megagauss magnetic field, and megajoules of energy. The essential ingredients are formation of a plasma target containing the fusion fuel embedded in a magnetic field to improve energy confinement, followed by pulsed compression of the fuel to achieve fusion reactions during the inertial dwell time of the compression system. A variety of detailed approaches are being considered for this purpose.1-4 Theoretical analysis shows that the intermediate regime of parameters has better prospects for economical development of practical fusion energy than either extreme represented by conventional approaches.5 This year the Atlas pulsed power facility, designed and developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, is beginning to operate at the Nevada Test Site. It is the worlds largest microsecond pulsed power system. Given that the primary purpose of Atlas is high-energydensity science for stockpile stewardship, it is serendipitous that Atlas is also extremely well suited for critical tests of the magneto-inertial fusion concept. The design of an initial experiment on Atlas will be described that investigates magnetic flux compression without plasma, and generation of magnetic field in the megagauss regime.6 An new and interesting aspect of the experiment is a unique method of providing seed flux for compression by diverting a small amount of current from the main Atlas power system while it drives a liner implosion. Progress on formation of an MTF plasma target has been recently reported by Los Alamos researchers,7 and other possibilities are being investigated.8 Plans for a campaign of Atlas experiments based on this progress are being developed. This campaign is one part of a roadmap for developing the MTF concept, which was recently prepared by the international community of scientists interested in MTF. The roadmap shows how Atlas in combination with other existing pulsed power facilities can provide a faster pathway to fusion than possible with conventional approaches.

References
1. D.D. Ryutov and R.E. Siemon, Comments on Modern Physics 2, 185 (2001). 2. Y.C.F. Thio, C.E. Knapp, R.C. Kirkpatrick, R.E. Siemon, and P.J. Turchi, J. Fusion Energy 20, 1 (2001). 3. F. Winterberg, Phys. Plasmas 11, 706 (2004). 4. A.J. Kemp, M.M. Basko, and J. Meyer-ter-Vehn, Nucl. Fusion 43, 16 (2003). 5. R.E. Siemon, P.J. Turchi, D.C. Barnes, J.H. Degnan, P. Parks, D.D. Ryutov, F.Y. Thio, Proc. 12th International Toki Conference, Toki, Japan (2001). 6. T.S. Goodrich, R.E. Siemon, B.S. Bauer, T.E. Cowan, I.R. Lindemuth, V. Makhin, R. Faehl, R. E. Reinovsky, 46th Annual Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics, Savannah, Georgia, Nov. 15-19, 2004 7. G. A. Wurden, T. P. Intrator, S. Y. Zhang, I. G. Furno, S. C. Hsu, J. Y. Park, R. Kirkpatrick, R. M. Renneke, K. F. Schoenberg, M. J. Taccetti, M. G. Tuszewski, W. J. Waganaar, Zhehui Wang, R. E. Siemon, J. H. Degnan, D. G. Gale, C. Grabowski, E. L. Ruden, W. Sommars, M. H. Frese, S. Coffey, G. Craddock, S. D. Frese, N. F. Roderick, Paper IC/P6-53, Proc. 20th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference, Vilamoura, Portugal (2004) 8. R.E. Siemon, W.L. Atchison, B.S. Bauer, A.M. Buyko, V.K. Chernyshev, T.E. Cowan, J.H. Degnan, R.J. Faehl, S. Fuelling, S.F. Garanin, A.V. Ivanovsky, I.R. Lindemuth, V. Makhin, V.N. Mokhov, R.E. Reinovsky, D.D. Ryutov, D.W. Scudder, T. Taylor, V.B. Yakubov, Paper IC/P6-48, Proc. 20th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference, Vilamoura, Portugal (2004).

Terminology
Magneto-inertial fusion (MIF) is the general idea of achieving fusion with a high-density pulsed system that incorporates magnetic field --magnetic field to improve energy confinement during burn --high-energy-density achieved with high-power pulsed technology --time scale governed by inertia of material surrounding the heated fuel Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) is the subset of MIF approaches that seeks to work at a density intermediate between conventional inertial and magnetic systems. --preheat the fuel and compress to thermonuclear temperature with one of several possible pushers. --metal liners and pulsed systems like Atlas are available now to test basic concept

FRC plasma target

MTF regime Required DT Fuel Mass MFE and ICF is intermediate between
103

ITER Fuel Mass (grams)

Advanced concepts

Approximate Upper-limit Bohm

109

10-3

MTF NIF

106

10-6

Diffusion-limit classical magnetic confinement

103

10-9

10-6

10-3

DT Fuel Mass heated to 10 keV

Density

(gram/cm3)

Fuel Energy (joules)

Diffusion-limit Zero magnetic field

Intrinsic fusion cost considering size and power is minimized around 1 Mbar
10000

Facility cost ($M)

1000

100

ITER-FEAT FIRE NIF Z Atlas Generic MTF Nominal tokamak High pressure tokamak

10 1.E+02 0.0001 1.E+04 1.E+06 1.E+08 1.E+10 1.E+12 .01 1 100 10000

See Siemon et al., Toki conference (2001).

Fuel pressure (megabar)

MIF can be developed faster than conventional fusion

Road map analysis suggests a time scale of 20 years instead of 50 years Cost of development is reduced because facilities are intrinsically less expensive.

Magneto-inertial Fusion Roadmap Space Energy Defense

Manned Exploration of Solar System Mission adopted Commercialization Power plant $2B Engineering & Economics demonstrated

2025
Technology, Materials, Theory, Advanced Computing Ramping to ~ $10M/y at Proof-of-Principle ~$25M/y at Performance Extension NASA Development Ground-based rocket $1B

2025

Energy Development Demo $1B

Stockpile Stewardship Intense neutron source $300M

Rocket-specific technology demonstrated

2015 demonstrated
Performance Extension Atlas & Engineering Prototypes $30-50M/y

Economic feasibility Design based on mission requirements

2012

2012

2010

PoP experiment Qeff~1

Proof-of-Principle Atlas facility / Variety of targets ~$20M/y

2007

Integrated plasma-on-liner test T~1 KeV, Qeff~0.01

Concept Exploration Plasma target experiments & Liner tests Theory & Modeling ~ $5 M/year

Roadmap

Standard person

Atlas power supply

240 kV 24 MJ ~ 25 nH 30 MA

Atlas is ideal for doing important MTF experiments

Near term -- magnetic flux compression to megaguass field level in an MTF-relevant geometry Longer term using various plasma targets, test plasma compression inside a liner

Flux compression experiment is being designed

z Shunt

Metal Conducting hard core

5mm 5cm

Liner

Insulator

Atlas Bank Current

Liner implosion with trapped flux results in megagauss magnetic field

Magnetic Field and Radius vs Time
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 5 Time(s) 10 15

Radius(mm) B-500(T) B-200(T)

Hard-core stabilized z pinch is potential MTF target plasma

Plasma Outer conductor is the imploding liner
Hard core current Plasma current

MAGO generates hard-core stabilized z pinch

MAGO at VNIIEF
I. R. Lindemuth, et al., Magnetic Compression / Magnetized Target Fusion (MAGO/MTF): A Marriage of Inertial and Magnetic Confinement, 16th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference, Montreal, Canada, October 7-11, 1996.

Hard-core pinch can be stable to all MHD modes

Arbitrary width vacuum region

I p

max = 2/5 for

m > 0 stability

Marginal m=0 stable profile

Kadomtsev stable

C L

R 5

Self-organization in diffuse z pinch

Plasma is unstable if pressure gradient violates Kadomtsev criterion Result is turbulent interchange motions of flux tubes in the rz plane (B=B). Plasma fluctuates in space and time around the marginal Kadomtsev-stable pressure profile. Process observed in numerical simulations of many different initial conditions; consistent with MAGO experimental data. Process illustrated by simulation using idealized initial conditions with eg. pressure gradient 10% too large See Makhin et al., Physics of Plasmas, April 2005

Sequence of interchange motion following Q=1.1 initial profile

Plasma density contours (color) and velocity streamlines t = 1.0 s t = 2.0 s Z(m) R(m)

Last moment of interchange before chaotic mixing; Mass contours and velocity stream lines

Chaotic mixture after interchange; mass contours and velocity stream lines

Diffuse z pinch target on Atlas

Plasma injector and Atlas Bank
are separate electrical circuits Coaxial injector could be a MAGO device or a Marshall Gun type accelerator Liner region labeled switch causes the plasma injection gap to close at the beginning of liner compression After switching action plasma with flux is trapped in a toroidal chamber surrounding the hard core, and compressional heating occurs as the liner implodes.
5cm

Coaxial Plasma Injector

Switch

Metal

Hard core
5mm

Liner

Insulator

Atlas Bank Current

Liner driven by Atlas (Raven 1D code)

60

0.3
Boil

Radius (mm); Current (MA)

50

Temperature (eV)

40 30 20 10 0 -10 0

Liner inside

Liner outside

0.2

21 s 20 s

Current

0.1

Melt

19 s

Hard core

0 3.5 4 Radius (mm) 4.5 5

10

15

20

25

30

Time (s)

Initial liner 50-mm radius, 10-cm long, 2-mm thick

Surface of hard core reaches boiling temperature just before time of maximum compression

2D MHRDR simulation results

20 5

--compressible two-fluid model --Braginskii coefficients of thermal conduction and electrical resistivity. --Ohms law is E+vxB = j -- No Hall terms or thermoelectric terms such as Nernst current included.
<n>/1024(m-3) 0 18 10 R(mm)

Liner inner radius Velocity

0 V(km/s) <T>(keV)

Hard-core radius
20 22 24

-5 26

Neutrons ~ 4x1012 Excellent diagnostic

<T>

See Siemon et al., Nuclear Fusion, to be published (2005).

<n>
0 18 20 22 (s) t(s) 24 0 26

Compressed plasma turbulent structure

time= 2.290e-005s 0.05 0.045 0.04 0.035 0.03 0.025 0.02 0.015 0.01 0.005 5.5 6 6.5 x 10
-3

time= 2.290e-005s 10.2

0.045 0.04 0.035

4000 3500 3000 2500 2000

10

9.8

0.03 0.025 0.02

9.6

9.4

1500 0.015 1000 0.01 0.005 5.2 5.4 5.6 5.8 6 6.2 x 10
-3

9.2

500

Pressure contours

Temperature contours & white streamlines

Issues that need study

Modeling of plasma formation process by MAGO or other coaxial generators is needed. Transport modeling should include estimates for Bohm microturbulence, wall-plasma interaction, sheath physics, and radiation from impurities. A coating of lithium on walls (optionally including dissolved hydrogen fuel) offers the possibility of low-Z contamination. Future simulations should examine radiation from a lithiumhydrogen plasma mixture. Hall terms and thermoelectric terms such as Nernst current (not in simulation) need further investigation.
RS, VM, BSB 5/26/03

MTF Team
U. Washington U. Colorado UNR LLNL UCDavis GA NTS UNLV U. Wisconsin HyperV Technologies

LANL AFRL NASA MSFC

Groups funded (often small) or proposing to work on MTF

Summary
An exciting possibility to advance fusion with MTF on Atlas presents itself. Results from MTF exploratory experiments on Atlas and Shiva Star in the next two years will motivate a larger MTF Proof-of-Principle campaign on Atlas. International team is in place to do this work. Proposed plan has small impact upon other DP plans and resources; valuable method for recruiting DP manpower. The moment is right for a significant MTF initiative