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With better conditions for fusion in the plasma, the reactor performance increases. [23] Initial use of lithium in 1990s was motivated by a need for a low-recycling PFC. In 1996, ~ 0.02 grams of lithium coating was added to the PFC of TFTR, resulting in the fusion power output and the fusion plasma confinement to improve by a factor of two.
For example, the ionization energy gained by adding an electron to a hydrogen nucleus is 13.6 eV —less than one-millionth of the 17.6 MeV released in the deuterium–tritium (D–T) reaction shown in the adjacent diagram. Fusion reactions have an energy density many times greater than nuclear fission; the reactions produce far greater energy ...
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design.Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lower mass, or a combination of these benefits.
Toroidal machines can be axially symmetric, like the tokamak and the reversed field pinch (RFP), or asymmetric, like the stellarator.The additional degree of freedom gained by giving up toroidal symmetry might ultimately be usable to produce better confinement, but the cost is complexity in the engineering, the theory, and the experimental diagnostics.
Diagram illustrating, in a schematic way, the technical difficulties of nuclear fusion, which much bring positively charged nuclei close enough so that the nuclear force will kick in. To demonstrate this I have drawn the ranges of the various forces as colored regions. Not to scale. Date: 08/03/2007: Source: Own work: Author: Panoptik
For fusion to occur the ions must be at a temperature of at least 4 keV (kiloelectronvolts), or about 45 million kelvins. The second easiest reaction is fusing deuterium with itself. Because this gas is cheaper, it is the fuel commonly used by amateurs. The ease of doing a fusion reaction is measured by its cross section. [27]
A NIF fusion shot on September 27, 2013, produced more energy than was absorbed by the deuterium–tritium fuel. [120] This has been confused with having reached "scientific breakeven", [121] [122] defined as the fusion energy exceeding the laser input energy. [123] Using this definition gives 14.4 kJ out and 1.8 MJ in, a ratio of 0.008. [120]
The probability of a fusion reaction occurring is controlled by the cross section of the fuel, [38] which is in turn a function of its temperature. The easiest nuclei to fuse are deuterium and tritium. Their fusion occurs when the ions reach 4 keV (kiloelectronvolts), or about 45 million kelvins.