PSFC Seminars

Inertial Fusion Energy: Ignition, Next Steps in S&T, and an Integrated National Plan

Tammy Ma

Lawrence Livermore National Lab

This talk will review the advancements that made the ignition breakthrough possible, provide an overview of the national and international IFE landscape, describe the remaining gaps and challenges that must be solved to realize IFE, and present progress on the integrated national plan to track and guide IFE development.

2:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Materials development for the ARC fusion power plant

Cody A. Dennett

Commonwealth Fusion Systems

2:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

To (boldly) measure where no one has measured before: Possibilities for Condensed Matter in Pulsed Magnetic Fields

Boris Maiorov

National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory

2:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Ignition and Beyond: An Update on the Inertial Confinement Fusion Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Richard Town

Lawrence Livermore National Lab

2:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

OpenStar Technologies:  Developing the Levitated Dipole concept for fusion

Darren Garnier

OpenStar Tech.

The OpenStar team has constructed and are currently testing their first dipole, “Junior” with first plasma expected shortly.  This LDX-scale device is designed to demonstrate much of the magnet technology required for dipole reactors and reproduce the results from LDX.

2:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

PSFC Seminar: D-T fuel cycles: Achieving tritium self-sufficiency in fusion power plants

Samuele Meschini

MIT PSFC

In this seminar, I will give an overview of fuel cycle design and present a dynamic, system-level model of D-T fuel cycles to assess tritium self-sufficiency for selected designs. We will also investigate the impact of material damage and tritium trapping on TBRr  and inventories, which has never been addressed in the literature at a system-level scale. Lastly, several tritium management strategies and the development of critical technologies will be presented as key paths to achieve tritium self-sufficiency in FPPs.

2:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Rethinking nuclear energy solutions for the African continent

Ericmoore Jossou

MIT

In this talk, I will discuss the concept of accident-tolerant nuclear fuel design for the safe operation of reactors while pointing out the need for Africa to invest in basic research toward value addition to critical materials used for nuclear reactor design and construction. I will share ongoing work on designing corrosion-resistant and radiation-tolerant coatings using materials indigenous to Africa.

2:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Rocket and ground-based studies of near-earth plasmas

Don Hampton

UA Fairbanks

In this talk I'll touch on recent NASA sounding rocket projects, including technology and results that are helping improve our understanding of our ionosphere and improving our ability to model it.

2:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Realta Fusion's axisymmetric mirror development program

Sam Frank

Realta

2:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Turbulence and transport physics of the optimized Wendelstein 7-X stellarator

Olaf Grulke

MPI for Plasma Physics, Technical University of Denmark

12:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Advances in optimization for stellarator design

Elizabeth Paul

Columbia University

We present pathways to model and optimize the alpha transport driven by Alfvenic instabilities through modification of the resonance structure and shear Alfven continuum. We discuss the incorporation of engineering constraints, such as HTS strain and remote maintenance compatibility, into the stellarator design process. 

12:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Studies of the influence of laser focusing and plasma profile on Direct Laser Acceleration

Louise Willingale

University of Michigan

Direct Laser Acceleration (DLA) of electrons is a mechanism for superponderomotive energy gain during relativistically intense laser-plasma interactions. As laser facilities reach multi-petawatt powers, DLA will be increasingly important as the main energy exchange mode between the laser and the plasma. The ponderomotive force of the laser pulse acts on the plasma to form a channel with transverse electric and azimuthal magnetic fields that enable energy exchange from the laser to the electrons.

12:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

SciML: Adding Scientific Models as Structure to Improve Machine Learning

Chris Rackaukas

MIT

In this talk we will showcase and explain how SciML techniques such as universal differential equations (UDEs) make it possible to improve the prediction and extrapolation capabilities of machine learning on small data.

1:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Advances in Sheared-Flow-Stabilized Z Pinch Fusion Platforms at Zap Energy

Ben Levitt & Derek Sutherland

ZAP Energy

In this presentation, we will introduce Zap Energy, the SFS Z-pinch concept, and report recent results from both experimental platforms, demonstrating operation with thermonuclear plasmas.  Electron temperatures in excess of 2 keV are measured with Thomson scattering, placing a lower bound on ion temperature, which is also independently inferred from impurity radiation spectra to be greater than 2.5 keV.  Simultaneous Thomson electron density measurements result in pinch pressure profiles in agreement with predictions by analytical and computational models.  These devices produce DD neutron yields that scale strongly with plasma current (Y_n~I¹¹) up to absolute yields ~10¹⁰ neutrons/pulse, consistent with adiabatic scaling of a SFS Z pinch and with 2D MHD modeling results.  These recent advances in performance constitute a factor of 10^5 improvement in fusion yield since 2021. 

12:00pm  |  Zoom Only

 MHD Energy Conversion Revisited Application of a Caspar Milquetoast Plasma

Jeff Freidberg

MIT PSFC

We have developed a new, self-consistent, quasi 1-D plus time analytic model for Faraday, Hall, and diagonal MHD generators in linear and cylindrical disk geometries.  The models have been applied to open cycle MHD systems (fossil fuels) as well as closed cycle systems (fission, fusion) to quantify the impact of high magnetic field on MHD generator performance.  Detailed results, largely favorable, will be presented at the seminar.  For those unfamiliar with Caspar Milquetoast, he too will be described at the seminar, including the reason why he is important for MHD energy conversion.

12:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

ELMs and coupled plasma-wall interactions and anomalous impurity transport with extended Hasegawa-Wakatany model

Sergei Krasheninnikov

UCSD

In this talk, I present the results of our recent works on the simulations of edge plasma particle and impurity transport.

12:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Stabilized Nanostructured and Laser Additively Manufactured Tungsten Alloys for Enhancing Divertor Armor Performance under Extremes

Jason Trelewicz

Stony Brook University

12:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Priority physics topics for COMPASS Upgrade tokamak

Michael Komm & Petr Vondracek

Institute of Plasma Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences

We present an overview of the priority topics for the physics programme of the future high field tokamak COMPASS Upgrade

12:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Exploring Uncharted Territories: DIII-D Negative Triangularity Studies

Kathreen Thome

Negative Triangularity (NT) is a potentially transformative scenario for fusion energy with its high-performance core, L-mode-like edge, and low-field-side divertors that could readily scale to an integrated reactor solution free of ELMs. Benefits of the NT shape were originally demonstrated on the TCV tokamak and high-performance has been previously achieved on DIII-D, which motivated the installation of graphite-tile armor on the low-field-side lower outer wall to attain high-power diverted plasmas with strong negative triangularity

12:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Magnetized indirect drive implosions on the National Ignition Facility

John Moody

LLNL

Having achieved nuclear fusion target gain greater than 1, research on NIF continues to explore implosion designs that increase the fusion yield.  Near term experiments are investigating B-field mitigation of hydro instability mix and other magnetization effects on the implosion.

12:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Lessons Learned from the ITER Project Experience

Kathy McCarthy

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

This presentation will review key lessons from US ITER’s experience and highlight additional learning from the international project.

12:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Report on the 2024 Geophysical Plasma Observational Expedition to Fairbanks, AK

Shon Mackie & John Ball

MIT PSFC

An expedition to Fairbanks, AK was undertaken during IAP by a team of eight graduate students to observe the geophysical plasma discharge known as Aurora Borealis. We report on the observations made during the expedition and preliminary findings of the collected data, including photos, videos, magnetic field traces, spectra, and RF emissions.

12:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Gamma ray detection: a powerful tool for controlled nuclear fusion

Andrea Dal Molin

CNR

This brief presentation provides an overview of the various gamma-ray detection techniques and the valuable information they provide on plasma impurities, fast ions and runaway electrons. It discusses the range of operations and challenges associated with the different techniques.

12:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Overview of the ITER ICRF system and latest antenna developments

Walid Helou

ITER

The talk overviews the ITER ICRF system and develops the design of the ITER ICRF antennas.

10:30am  |  NW17-218 Hybrid

Direct-Drive Inertial Confinement Fusion: Overview and Status

Radha Bahukutumbi

Laboratory for Laser Energetics

In this talk I will describe results from OMEGA implosion experiments. I will also discuss the physics at the megajoule (NIF) or ignition scale that play an important role in the extrapolation of OMEGA implosion performance. Results from direct-drive experiments on the NIF will be presented and the prospects for ignition discussed.

12:00pm  |  NW17-218 Hybrid