National Academies Press: OpenBook

An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy (2013)

Chapter: Appendix G: Glossary and Acronyms

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Glossary and Acronyms." National Research Council. 2013. An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18289.
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G

Glossary and Acronyms

GLOSSARY

Ablator: Outermost layer of the target capsule that is rapidly heated and vaporized, compressing the rest of the target.

Adiabat (plasma physics): Determined, for instance, by the ratio of the plasma pressure to the Fermi pressure (the pressure of a degenerate electron gas); used as a measure of plasma entropy.

Blanket: Section of the reactor chamber that serves as the heat transfer medium for the fusion reactor chamber. Some blanket concepts incorporate materials for tritium breeding as well as cooling.

Cryogenic: Involving very low temperatures.

Diode-pumped lasers: Lasers wherein laser diodes illuminate a solid gain medium (such as a crystal or glass).

Direct drive: Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) technique whereby the driver energy strikes the fuel capsule directly.

Driver: Mechanism by which energy is delivered to the fuel capsule. Typical techniques use lasers, heavy-ion beams, and Z-pinches.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Glossary and Acronyms." National Research Council. 2013. An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18289.
×

Dry wall: Fusion reactor chamber’s first wall that employs no liquid or gaseous protection.

Fast ignition: ICF technique whereby the driver gradually compresses the fuel capsule, followed by a high-intensity, ultrashort-pulse laser that strikes the fuel to trigger ignition.

First wall: First surface of the fusion reactor chamber encountered by radiation and/or debris emitted from the target implosion. These walls may vary in composition and execution such as dry, wetted, or liquid jet.

Gain: Ratio of the fusion energy released by the target to the driver energy applied to the target in a single explosion.

Heavy-ion fusion: ICF technique whereby ions of heavy elements are accelerated and directed onto a target.

High average power: Attribute of a driver that, if repeatable, would make it suitable for an IFE-based power plant.

High-energy-density science: Study of the creation, behavior, and interaction of matter with extremely high energy densities.

High repetition rate: Maintaining a high rate for engaging the driver or igniting the target, making it suitable for an IFE-based power plant (e.g., 10 Hz).

Hohlraum: Hollow container in which an ICF target may be placed, whose walls are used to reradiate incident energy to drive the fuel capsule’s implosion.

Hydrodynamic instability: Concept in which fluids of differing physical qualities interact, causing perturbations such as turbulence. Examples include Rayleigh-Taylor and Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities.

Ignition (broad definition): Condition in a plasma when self-heating from nuclear fusion reactions is at a rate sufficient to maintain the plasma’s temperature and fusion reactions without having to apply any external energy.

Ignition (IFE): State when fusion gain exceeds unity—that is, when the fusion energy released in a single explosion exceeds the energy applied to the target.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Glossary and Acronyms." National Research Council. 2013. An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18289.
×

Indirect drive: ICF technique whereby the driver energy strikes the fuel capsule indirectly—for example, by the X-rays produced by heating the high-Z enclosure (hohlraum) that surrounds the fuel capsule.

Inertial confinement fusion (ICF): Concept in which a driver delivers energy to the outer surface of a fuel capsule (typically containing a mixture of deuterium and tritium), heating and compressing it. The heating and compression then initiate a fusion chain reaction.

Inertial fusion energy: Concept whereby ICF is used to predictably and continuously initiate fusion chain reactions that yield more energy than that incident on the fuel from the driver for the ultimate purpose of producing electrical power.

KD*P: Potassium dideuterium phosphate, a material widely used in frequency conversion optics.

Krypton fluoride (KrF) laser: Gas laser that operates in the ultraviolet at 248 nm.

Laser–plasma instability: Secondary processes such as symmetry disturbances, fuel preheat, and diversion of laser energy that occur when intense lasers interact with plasmas.

Liquid wall: Fusion reactor chamber’s first wall that features thick jets of liquid coolant. This design may also shield the solid chamber walls from neutron damage.

Magnetized target fusion: ICF technique whereby a magnetic field is created surrounding the target; the field is then imploded around the target, initiating fusion reactions.

Mix (plasma physics): When colder target material is incorporated into the hot reaction region of the target, usually as a result of hydrodynamic instabilities.

Pulse compression: Technique whereby the incident pulse is compressed to deliver the energy in a shorter time.

Pulsed-power fusion: ICF technique that uses a large electrical current to magnetically implode a target.

Reactor chamber: Apparatus in which the fusion reactions would take place in an IFE power plant. It would contain and capture the energy released from repeated ignition.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Glossary and Acronyms." National Research Council. 2013. An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18289.
×

Sabot: Protective device used when injecting an IFE target into the chamber at high speed.

Shock ignition: ICF technique that uses hydrodynamic shocks to ignite the compressed hot spot.

Target: Fuel capsule, together with a holhraum or other energy-focusing device (if one is used), that is struck by the driver’s incident energy in order to initiate fusion reactions.

Wall-plug efficiency: Energy conversion efficiency defined as a ratio of the total driver output power to the input electrical power.

Wetted wall: Fusion reactor chamber’s first wall that features a renewable, thin layer of liquid.

 

 

ACRONYMS

APG advanced phosphate glass
AWE Atomic Weapons Establishment
   
BOP balance of plant
   
CEA Commissariat à l’energie atomique
CELIA Centre lasers intenses et applications
COE cost of electricity
CPA chirped-pulse amplification
CPP continuous-phase plate
CVD chemical vapor deposition
   
D deuterium
DD (drive context) direct drive
DEMO demonstration plant
DOE Department of Energy
DPSSL diode-pumped solid-state laser
DT deuterium-tritium
   
ELI Extreme Light Infrastructure
ETF engineering test facility
   
FAIR Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Glossary and Acronyms." National Research Council. 2013. An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18289.
×
FESAC Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee
FLiBe fluorine-lithium-beryllium
FTF Fusion Test Facility
   
GDP glow discharge polymer
   
HAPL High Average Power Laser
HCX High-Current Experiment
HIF heavy-ion fusion
HIFTF Heavy-Ion Fusion Test Facility
HIF-VL Heavy-Ion Fusion Virtual Laboratory
HI-IFE Heavy-Ion Inertial Fusion Energy
HiPER High-Power Laser Energy Research
HLW high-level waste
   
ICF inertial confinement fusion
ID indirect drive
IFE inertial fusion energy
i-LIFT Laboratory Inertial Fusion Test
IRE integrated research experiment
ISI incoherent spatial imaging
ITER International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
   
KDP potassium dihydrogen phosphate
   
LANL Los Alamos National Laboratory
LBNL Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
LDRD laboratory-directed research and development
LIFE laser inertial fusion energy
LIL Ligne d’Integration Laser
LLE Laboratory for Laser Energetics
LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
LLW low-level waste
LMJ Laser MégaJoule (project)
LPI laser-plasma interactions/instabilities
LTD linear transformer driver
LULI Laboratoire pour l’utilisation des lasers intenses
LWR light water reactor
   
MagLIF magnetized liner inertial fusion
MFE magnetic fusion energy
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Glossary and Acronyms." National Research Council. 2013. An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18289.
×
MTF Magnetized Target Fusion
   
NCDX-II neutralized drift compression experiment II
NGNP next-generation nuclear plant
NIC National Ignition Campaign
NIF National Ignition Facility
NNSA National Nuclear Security Administration
NRC National Research Council
NRL Naval Research Laboratory
   
OFES Office of Fusion Energy Sciences
   
PALS Prague Asterisk Laser System
PDD polar direct drive
PETAL PETawatt Aquitaine Laser
PP pulsed power
PPPL Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
   
RF radio frequency
RTL recyclable transmission line
   
SAC science advisory committee
SAL specific activity limit
SBS stimulated Brillouin scattering
SNL Sandia National Laboratories
SRS stimulated Raman scattering
SSD smoothing by spectral dispersion
   
T tritium
TA technology application
TBM test blanket module
TPD two-plasmon decay
TRL technology readiness level
TWAC TeraWatt ACcelerator
   
UV ultraviolet
   
VLT Virtual Laboratory for Technology
YAG yttrium-aluminum-garnet
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Glossary and Acronyms." National Research Council. 2013. An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18289.
×
Page 204
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Glossary and Acronyms." National Research Council. 2013. An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18289.
×
Page 205
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Glossary and Acronyms." National Research Council. 2013. An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18289.
×
Page 206
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Glossary and Acronyms." National Research Council. 2013. An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18289.
×
Page 207
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Glossary and Acronyms." National Research Council. 2013. An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18289.
×
Page 208
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Glossary and Acronyms." National Research Council. 2013. An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18289.
×
Page 209
Next: Appendix H: Summary from the Report of the Panel on the Assessment of Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) Targets (Unclassified Version) »
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The potential for using fusion energy to produce commercial electric power was first explored in the 1950s. Harnessing fusion energy offers the prospect of a nearly carbon-free energy source with a virtually unlimited supply of fuel. Unlike nuclear fission plants, appropriately designed fusion power plants would not produce the large amounts of high-level nuclear waste that requires long-term disposal. Due to these prospects, many nations have initiated research and development (R&D) programs aimed at developing fusion as an energy source. Two R&D approaches are being explored: magnetic fusion energy (MFE) and inertial fusion energy (IFE).

An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy describes and assesses the current status of IFE research in the United States; compares the various technical approaches to IFE; and identifies the scientific and engineering challenges associated with developing inertial confinement fusion (ICF) in particular as an energy source. It also provides guidance on an R&D roadmap at the conceptual level for a national program focusing on the design and construction of an inertial fusion energy demonstration plant.

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