ATOM9910: Fusion energy

History, physics and engineering challenges

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Course Overview

This course is dedicated to fusion energy. You will be exposed to the current challenges of fusion energy, and you will learn about the paths that the scientific community has followed over the last century to reach the present understanding of fusion energy.

A journey through the history of fusion science and engineering, you will learn about the physics of fusion plasmas, and the strengths and limitations of the major approaches to harness magnetic fusion energy, including tokamaks, stellarators, mirror, and pinch configurations. You will also hear about the key trends in the international fusion landscape and about the status of the construction of the world’s most advanced magnetic fusion confinement devices.

The course will include a final part dedicated to ethical and social points related to the development of fusion energy.
Course requirements

  • Professor Piero Martin, a visiting Professor from the University of Padova, will convene this course. Prof. Martin is a professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Padova. His research focuses on thermonuclear fusion and physics, and he is chief physicist of the international DTT fusion experiment. Piero is one of a select few Italian physicists to have been awarded the prestigious Fellow of the American Physical Society, conferred for “exceptional contributions to the physics enterprise”. As a pioneer of many results in the advancement of fusion energy, including the discovery of self-organized helical plasma configurations, Piero is a world-leading expert and has contributed to various international initiatives for the review, evaluation, and definition of research policies, programming and strategies.

    If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Associate Professor Patrick Burr at p.burr@unsw.edu.au.

  • Week 6 – July 6 – 9

    Jul 6, Mon17:00–19:00Introduction to plasmas
    Plasma, the fourth state of matter. Definition of plasmas and of the quantities, which describe it: density, temperature, potential, Debye shielding
    Occurrence of plasma in nature
    Examples of plasma applications
    Interaction of plasmas with the electromagnetic field: from the single particle model to self-consistency. The MHD model    		Lecture
    Jul 8, Wed17:00–19:00Plasma as fuel for energy conversion: the principle of thermonuclear fusion
    Metrics of fusion energy
    Inertial and magnetic confinement    		Lecture
    Jul 9, Thur11:00–13:00 Tutorial

    Week 7 – July 13 – 16

    Jul 13, Mon17:00–19:00Magnetic confinement configurations
    From MHD equations to practical application: pinch, tokamak and stellarator    		Lecture
    Jul 15, Wed17:00–19:00How to build a toroidal fusion device: basic principles an main engineering challenges.
    Sizing a tokamak: examples from the real world    		Lecture
    Jul 16, Thur11:00–13:00 Tutorial

    Week 8 – July 20 – 23

    Jul 20, Mon17:00–19:00History of fusion physics and engineering (1900–1945)
    The dawn of quantum mechanics and the understanding of the atomic structure
    Fusion drives the stars: from Eddington to Bethe.
    The first experiments in nuclear physics
    The dreams and nightmares about nuclear energy    		Lecture
    Jul 22, Wed17:00–19:00History of fusion physics and engineering (1945–1975)
    Nightmares become truth: the thermonuclear bomb
    The start of research on fusion for pacific purposes: pinch, mirror and stellarator    		Lecture
    Jul 23, Thur11:00–13:00 Tutorial

    Week 9 – July 27 – 30

    Jul 27, Mon17:00–19:00History of fusion physics (1945–1975)
    The Geneva conference in 1958: life is more difficult than expected as the community understands that physics is not as simple as expected.
    From initial enthusiasm to organized research.
    Fusion and science diplomacy: physics is stronger than cold war
    Promises, hypes and blunders: when fusion overpromised    		Lecture
    Jul 29, Wed17:00–19:00History of fusion physics (1975–now)
    The birth of the tokamak
    The energy crisis and the big tokamaks
    TFTR and JET, the race to D-T operation
    Overview of tokamak main results    		Lecture
    Jul 30, Thur11:00–13:00 Tutorial

    Week 10 – Aug 3 – 6

    Aug 3, Mon17:00–19:00Open physics and technology challenges for fusion exploitation.
    When physics meets engineering:
    ITER, DTT, SPARC    		Lecture
    Aug 5, Wed17:00–19:00The role of private industry
    Ethics, communication and social challenges on the future of fusion    		Lecture
    Aug 6, Thu11:00–13:00 Tutorial
    • Describe the key parameters of thermonuclear plasmas, the physics processes that govern nuclear fusion and the metrics for the exploitation of fusion energy
    • Identify strengths, weaknesses, and current challenges of different approaches to magnetic confinement of fusion plasmas
    • Appraise the current state of the art of fusion energy within the historical context of development of fusion technologies
    • Assess the evolving relationship between fusion technologies and society, including Ethics, communication and social challenges.