Review Of The Department Of Energys Inertial Confinement Fusion Program PDF Download

Igniting fusion fuel in the laboratory remains an alluring goal for two reasons: the desire to study matter under the extreme conditions needed for fusion burn, and the potential of harnessing the energy released as an attractive energy source for mankind. The inertial confinement approach to fusion involves rapidly compressing a tiny spherical capsule of fuel, initially a few millimeters in radius, to densities and temperatures higher than those in the core of the sun. The ignited plasma is confined solely by its own inertia long enough for a significant fraction of the fuel to burn before the plasma expands, cools down and the fusion reactions are quenched. The potential of this confinement approach as an attractive energy source is being studied in the Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) program, which is the subject of this report. A complex set of interrelated requirements for IFE has motivated the study of novel potential solutions. Three types of "drivers" for fuel compression are presently studied: high-averagepower lasers (HAPL), heavy-ion (HI) accelerators, and Z-Pinches. The three main approaches to IFE are based on these drivers, along with the specific type of target (which contains the fuel capsule) and chamber that appear most promising for a particular driver.