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Fusion, in all its varieties, is a very current subject of science and technology. The results of strongly exothermic reaction of thermonuclear fusion between nuclei of deuterium and tritium are: helium nuclei and neutrons, plus considerable kinetic energy of neutrons of over 14 MeV. DT nuclides synthesis reaction is probably not the most favorable one for energy production, but is the most advanced technologically. More efficient would be possibly an aneutronic fusion. The EU by its EURATOM agenda prepared a Road Map for research and implementation of Fusion as a commercial method of thermonuclear energy generation in the time horizon of 2050.The milestones on this road are tokomak experiments JET, ITER and DEMO, and neutron experiment IFMIF. There is a hope, that by engagement of the national government, and all research and technical fusion and plasma communities, part of this Road Map may be realized in Poland. The infrastructure build for fusion experiments may be also used for material engineering research, chemistry, biomedical, associated with environment protection, power engineering, security, etc. Construction of such research and industrial accelerator and tokomak infrastructure may have potentially a profound meaning for the development of science and technology in Poland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fuel supply is a fundamental issue in application of inertial nuclear fusion. To address this issue, we propose the use of an HTS superconductor capsule containing nuclear fuel, which can levitate in a magnetic field. During magnetic levitation, positional stability is important because it affects levitation accuracy to the focal point of giant lasers. We have developed a numerical simulation program based on a 3-D hybrid finite element and boundary element method to evaluate positional stability during magnetic levitation. Moreover, we have optimally designed and constructed a multi-coil system wherein spherical HTS bulk of 5 mm diameter can levitate stably. Finally, we have conducted the experiments for the evaluation of magnetic levitation, and compared the results with our simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Hypervelocity impact (HVI) is a very important workbench in high energy density (HED) physics studies. In this paper, we will discuss the physics of the impact of a macroscopic particle (macron) at the speed of up to () to an immobile target, and its differences from other HED drives. As HVIs can create ultra high energy density, we believe that with a proper design, they can be very efficient drives to inertial confinement fusion energy (IFE). We will propose a fusion scheme of this concept, investigate the physics involved in detail, and present the preliminary simulation results. These investigations show that the scheme is very promising. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Uniformity of heavy ion beam (HIB) illumination is one of the key issues in HIB inertial confinement fusion (HIF): deviation from fuel implosion symmetry should be less than a few percent in order to compress a fuel sufficiently and release fusion energy effectively. In this paper, a new mitigation method of the Rayleigh–Taylor (R-T) instability growth is presented in order to make a HIF target robust against a non-uniform implosion. In this study a new mitigation method of R-T instability growth is proposed based on an oscillating perturbed acceleration, which can be realized by a rotating or oscillating HIB illumination onto a fuel pellet. The R-T instability analyses and fluid simulations demonstrate that the oscillating acceleration reduces the R-T instability growth significantly. In this paper a baseline steady acceleration g 0 is perturbed by a perturbed oscillating acceleration δg, which is spatially non-uniform and oscillates in time (g 0⪢δg). An example result shows 84% reduction of the R-T instability growth. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Recent research activities in Japan relevant to heavy ion fusion (HIF) are presented. During the past two years, significant progress in HIF and high energy density (HED) physics research has been made by a number of research groups in universities and accelerator facilities. Evolutions in phase space during the longitudinal compression of intense beams were investigated at UU–NUT–TIT. Beam–plasma interaction experiments and related theoretical studies are in progress at RLNR-TIT. In the study, shock-heated hydrogen was used for the interaction experiments as a well-defined non-ideal-plasma target. In the beam–plasma interaction experiments, a special emphasis is placed on an evaluation of non-linear effects on the stopping power in a beam-heated plasma target. A direct–indirect hybrid scheme of a beam-driven ICF target has been proposed and discussed at UU. In the same group, a method for controlling the Rayleigh–Taylor instability in imploding fuel target has been proposed using oscillating heavy ion beams (HIBs). Core dynamics of the impact ignition has been investigated both experimentally and numerically at ILE—Osaka. Dense plasmas driven by intense ion beams and/or a pulse powered device, were evaluated by a group of DES-TIT, concerning the researches on HED and warm dense matter (WDM) physics. A quasi-statically tamped target was proposed to make a well-defined, warm dense state for equation-of-state (EOS) studies based on ion accelerators. The potentiality of the new facility planned at KEK was evaluated by a collaborating group of TIT–UU–KEK, which can extend the parameter regime for laboratory experiments to study the properties of matter under extreme conditions. A possible method to make a high-pressure condition for study of the planetary science was discussed as a short-term subject of intense HIBs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We have been developing an active magnetic levitation system, which is composed of a field-cooled disk-shaped or sphere shaped high-temperature superconducting bulks (HTS bulks) and vertically piled ring-shaped electromagnets without an iron core. We suppose that this active magnetic levitation system can be applied to inertial nuclear fusion. In inertial nuclear fusion, one of the most important issues is to achieve high-accuracy position control of the fusion fuel, which consists of deuterium and tritium in order to evenly illuminate the entire surface of the target. Therefore, active magnetic levitation is applied to the levitation and position control of a sphere-shaped superconducting capsule containing nuclear fusion fuel. In this study, we designed and constructed a three-coil position control system in order to achieve the stable levitation of the sphere-shaped HTS bulk with a diameter of 5 mm by using the numerical simulation based on the hybrid finite element and boundary element analysis. Then, we carried out the experiments on the position control and restoring force characteristics of the sphere-shaped HTS bulk in the constructed levitation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Fusion experiments involving a deuterium–tritium compound can be considered in the near future at CEA/DAM/Cesta using the laser integration line facility (LIL; prototype of the laser mega joule (LMJ), under construction). Nevertheless, non-contaminated materials are currently favoured in order to minimise exploitation constraints. Hence, as it presented low but significant levels of contamination (tritium and beryllium), the LIL target chamber was cleaned up before being installed. A comparison of selected decontamination methods has been made based on their ability to reach very low levels of contamination (i.e. the lowest contamination threshold in transportation regulations and beryllium public limit), their efficiency and compatibility with vacuum objectives. The process was thereby performed at CEA/DAM/Cesta in 2001, using an acid foam technique in a dedicated installation. Its implementation and effectiveness are further discussed in this paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper we report on two Heavy Ion Fusion (HIF) driver point design studies. The Robust Point Design (RPD) was completed over a year ago, and the Modular Point Design (MPD) is still in progress. The goal of any point design study is to construct a detailed design that is self-consistent and integrated from injector to target. This has been the primary theme of both studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]