Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear Fusion
Roadmap Overview
The working principle and architecture of Laser Confined Nuclear Fusion is shown in the schematic below.
<ref name="Fusion">[1]</ref>
Nuclear fusion power generation fundamentally consists of fusing atoms to form heavier ones with a release of energy through neutrons. One of the main technology branches for demonstrating fusion power is Laser Confined Nuclear Fusion, LCNF which involves rapidly compressing a D-T (Deuterium-Tritium) fueled target pellet using some of the world’s most powerful lasers. The National Ignition Facility, at LLNL employs 192 UV laser beams at ~2MJ to converge on a gold cylinder, the size of a dime to generate x-rays and accelerate the fuel radially inward in less than 1 billionth to produce helium and high energy neutrons that could be captured to create a future energy source.
Design Structure Matrix (DSM) Allocation
The 2LCNF tree shows us that Laser Confined Nuclear Fusion is part of larger global Nuclear Fusion Power initiative to harness fusion power. The DSM and tree both show that 2LCNF requires the following technologies at the subsystem level 3: 3LAS Laser, 3TAR ICF Targets, 3DIA Diagnostics, 3CTP Cryogenic Target Positioning, and 3CHB Target Chamber. Each level 3 subsystem also require enabling technologies shown as level 4 systems.
Roadmap Model using OPM
The Object-Process-Diagram (OPD) of the 2LCNF Laser Confined Nuclear Fusion is provided in the figure below. This diagram captures the main object of the roadmap, its various processes and instrument objects, and its characterization by Figures of Merit (FOMs). The Fusing Process is unfolded to show sub-processes and their instrument objects.
Unfolding the Fusing Process at level SD1
An Object-Process-Language (OPL) description of the roadmap scope is auto-generated and given below. It reflects the same content as the previous figure, but in a formal natural language.
Figures of Merit
The table below shows a list of FOMs by which Laser Confined Nuclear Fusion, LCNF can be assessed. FOMs on this list related specifically to fusion reactions, such as neutron and fusion yield are similar to other confined fusion experiments. For LCNF, the key FOMs are experiment implosion velocity, laser energy and neutron yield. Fusion yield is intrinsically related to neutron yield.
Important FOMs such as implosion velocity and ITFX can be calculated from the equations in the table below. However, an understanding of neutron yield and thus fusion yield is found through both simulations and experiments in LCNF facilities.
<ref>Laser Indirect Drive input to NNSA 2020 report (LLNL-TR-810573)</ref>
Over the last 50 years, development of LCNF facilities enabled increases in laser energies (delivered to D-T fuelled targets) by 5 orders of magnitude. The National Ignition Facility, NIF at LLNL contains the world's most powerful laser.
<ref>https://www.sseb.org/downloads/AM-2012/presentations/Dunne.pdf</ref>
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Introduction
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