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This Defense Intelligence Agency reference document, dated 10 March 2010, covers inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) fusion. It was produced in FY 2009 under the DIA's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) program. The report focuses on work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and reviews IEC basics, experiments, theory and applications such as neutron sources, explosives detection and space propulsion. It concludes by proposing a breakeven experiment for p-11B fusion that uses a hydrogen plasma simulation.
“formation”17 pages
UNCLASSIFIED/)'P9R: 9PPl!ltllt t!l91!! 9HL'I' Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion Preface This report is intended to provide the reader with an overview of the basics, current experimental status, supporting theory, and potential applications of inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) fusion. Emphasis is placed on work in these areas at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, although some other research is brought in. The report shows that IEC is a unique approach to fusion in that it offers a number of "spin-off" applications, such as a small neutron source for neutron activation analysis on the route to fusion power. The report further shows that IEC is one of the few potential fusion approaches that can potentially burn aneutronic fuels like p- 11B (hydrogen - Boron 11). In aneutronic fusion, neutrons carry no more than 1% of the total released energy, greatly reducing problems associated with neutron radiation. That ability, combined with its simple mechanical structure and small size, make the IEC reactor, if achieved, an ideal fusion power unit. Present experimental devices are four to five orders of magnitude below breakeven (energy out/in = 1) energy gain for p- 11B. However, it is argued that the ability to study the physics in very-small- volume plasmas makes it possible to rapidly investigate scale-up to a power- producing device. As an example, the report concludes with a conceptual experiment proposed for demonstration of breakeven conditions for p- 11B using a hydrogen plasma simulation. The author has purposely tried to avoid use of equations in this report to enhance readability and to stress concepts rather than analysis. However, considerable analysis is provided in a number of the source references cited. vii UNCLASSIFIED//r;Oll oi;i;1,;;1•k llili O•lk¥
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 72 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.