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Burning Plasma Bringing a Star to Earth (2004) / Chapter Skim
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Glossary
Pages 183-190

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From page 183...
... fusion laboratories in the early 1990s. Four designs were studied: ARIES-I, a device based on modest extrapolations from the tokamak physics database; ARIES-II and ARIES-IV, two second stability devices, which differed in their fusion power core composition; and ARIES-III, which, unlike the others, utilized the deuteriumhelium-3 fusion reaction instead of the deuterium-tritium reaction.
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From page 184...
... Confinement, magnetic: A method of containing a plasma or charged particles in a finite region using magnetic fields. Charged particles travel in helical paths around the magnetic field lines, which confine their motion to the local vicinity of the magnetic field.
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From page 185...
... Disruption, disruptive instability: A complex phenomenon involving magnetohydrodynamic instability, which results in rapid heat loss and termination of a discharge. Plasma control may be lost, triggering a vertical displacement event whereby the whole plasma moves up (or down)
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From page 186...
... In many tokamaks this value does not exceed 1, so the Greenwald density is a measure of the density limit for a tokamak. Helium ash: Fusion reactions in a deuterium-tritium plasma produce energetic alpha particles (helium nuclei)
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From page 187...
... Neoclassical tearing mode: The plasma state that occurs when the magnetic island produced by a tearing mode perturbs the bootstrap current, which further amplifies the island and degrades confinement or leads to a disruption. Neoclassical theory: Classical collisional plasma transport theory, corrected for toroidal effects.
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From page 188...
... To maintain stability, the toroidal field reverses close to the edge of the plasma when a critical plasma current is exceeded. RF: Radio frequency -- electromagnetic energy having a frequency from 104 to 1012 Hz.
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From page 189...
... . The absence of a plasma current gives stellarators significant potential advantages over tokamaks as fusion power plants (no disruptions, no current drive, and no stability control system)
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From page 190...
... 190 BU R N I N GP L A S M A Tritium: Isotope of hydrogen having one proton and two neutrons in its nucleus. Tritium is radioactive, with a half-life of 12.3 years, and is essentially nonexistent in nature.
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Key Terms

  • plasma current
  • fusion power
  • toroidal field
  • tokamak fusion
  • bootstrap current

  • alpha particles
  • fusion reactions
  • shaped magnetic
  • field lines
  • fusion energy

  • charged particles
  • fusion test
  • temperature gradient
  • poloidal field
  • fusion concept

  • european torus
  • electrical current
  • test reactor
  • gas pressure
  • aspect ratio

  • confining field
  • russian word
  • cubic meter
  • helium ash
  • auxiliary heating

  • low aspect
  • produces tritium
  • power threshold
  • joint european
  • cross section


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