Plasma Heating and Current Drive in a Field-Reversed Configuration Using Rotating Magnetic Fields

This proposal addresses the production of fusion-based electrical power, using a new compact high-ß plasma confinement and heating scheme developed at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). The realization of actual electrical power from the odd-parity Rotating Magnetic Field/Field-Reversed Configuration (RMFo/FRC) requires that the present low-energy, but promising, devices be scaled to higher energies. However, standard MHD and 2-fluid codes do not include key phenomena that are kinetic, due the presence of localized magnetic nulls and separatrices. Consequently, novel computational tools are needed to guide next step experiments. This project will develop state-of-the-art computational models that address a physics regime specifically relevant to the RMFo/FRC class of devices. By validating these computational methods against the ongoing PPPL experiments, the numerical model can be used to scale the RMFo/FRC device to power-producing levels and to develop a design for such a device. Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: The development of compact high-ß fusion power plants would provide electrical energy from naturally abundant sources, using much smaller, less capital-intensive generators than more conventional magnetic and inertial confinement schemes. Also, the strong confinement properties of the new concept favors ¿clean¿ nuclear fuels, which generate far lower levels of high-energy neutron radiation than mainstream approaches to fusion.