UK Magnetic Fusion Research Programme

国际聚变研究的目的是利用加热太阳和其他恒星的过程，开发一种新的、大规模的、无碳的能源，而不会出现供应安全或重大的长期浪费问题。最先进的方法是使用强磁场使非常热的电离气体(等离子体)远离材料表面。主要的挑战是最大限度地减少等离子体的能量损失，保持其稳定并处理其高废气功率，以及开发可靠的材料和部件，这些材料和部件可以承受多年的高功率热通量和聚变产生的非常热的中子，这将成为发电的热源。2010-2016年EPSRC支持的CCFE(也由EURATOM资助)磁融合研究项目将回应2009年RCUK对英国聚变研究战略的审查结果。这强调了有必要逐步将研究的天平从物理转向技术，长期目标是将英国工业定位为核聚变发电站建造时的主要参与者。RCUK的融合咨询委员会已经批准了这一前瞻性计划的主要推动力。这笔赠款将用于英国资助CCFE的联合欧洲环(JET)，这是目前世界领先的聚变实验。在2010年代，JET将被ITER取代，ITER是在法国建造的国际设备。英国项目的核心是桅杆。在授予期间，将实施30M的重大升级，以实现更高功率、更长脉冲的热等离子体实验(约5000万度)。Mast是一种球形托卡马克，这是CCFE首创的概念，磁瓶的设计比JET和ITER等传统托卡马克更紧密。主塔实验的主要目的是(A)确定ST是否将作为紧凑型设备测试未来聚变发电站部件的合适基础，以及(B)提高对托卡马克物理的了解，以帮助优化对热核实验堆的开发。除了升级桅杆，该方案的主要内容如下(所有这些都涉及与英国大学和海外组织的大量合作)：1)桅杆实验，以及相关理论和模型，关于托卡马克等离子体的稳定性、约束、排气、启动和维持方面的实验2)与其他欧洲聚变科学家一起参与JET方案，集中评估JET的新金属等离子体面墙对等离子体性能的影响以及对热核实验堆的影响。2015年左右将有使用聚变燃料(氚和氚的混合物)的实验-JET是唯一可以使用氚的机器3)通过理论和建模(针对英国大学的实验进行测试)和对新喷气墙中钨和铍的性能评估来改进聚变发电站的结构和面向等离子体的材料4)为ITER设计专门的加热和测量技术，并促进英国工业界参与这些和其他ITER系统的采购5)逐步从ITER技术转向那些在ITER之后示范聚变发电站所需的技术，为欧洲联合设计研究做出贡献-其中一些工作将帮助卢瑟福-阿普尔顿实验室研究的欠发达的基于激光的惯性方法用于聚变发电站，该方法将需要类似的中子捕获和高热通量技术来帮助所有上述工作，利用英国大学在等离子体和材料科学与技术方面的相关专业知识，并在许多学科对学生进行培训。

The purpose of international fusion research is to harness the process that heats the sun andother stars, to develop a new, large scale, carbon-free energy source without security ofsupply or major long-term waste problems. The most developed approach uses strongmagnetic fields to keep the very hot, ionised gas (plasma) away from material surfaces.The main challenges are to minimise energy losses from the plasma, keep it stable andhandle its high exhaust power, and to develop reliable materials and components that canwithstand years of high power fluxes of heat and the very hot neutrons created by fusionwhich will be the heat source for electricity generation.The 2010-2016 EPSRC-supported magnetic fusion research programme at CCFE (alsofunded by EURATOM) will respond to the findings of the 2009 RCUK review of UK fusionresearch strategy. This emphasised the need to shift gradually the balance of research fromphysics to technology, with the long-term aim to position UK industry to be a major playerwhen fusion power stations are built. The RCUK's Fusion Advisory Board has endorsed themain thrusts of this forward programme. The grant will cover UK funding for the JointEuropean Torus (JET) at CCFE, presently the world's leading fusion experiment. In the2010s, JET will be superseded by ITER, the international device under construction inFrance.The centrepiece of the UK programme is MAST. A major 30M upgrade will be implementedduring the grant period, to enable higher power, longer pulse experiments with even hotterplasmas (around 50 million degrees). MAST is a spherical tokamak, a concept pioneered atCCFE with a tighter design of magnetic bottle than conventional tokamaks like JET andITER. The main aims of MAST experiments are to (a) determine whether the ST would be asuitable basis for a compact device to test components for future fusion power stations, and(b) improve tokamak physics understanding to help optimise exploitation of ITER. Aside fromupgrading MAST, the main strands of the programme are as follows (all involve considerablecollaboration with UK universities and overseas organisations):1) Experiments on MAST, and related theory and modelling, on the stability, confinement,exhaust, start-up and sustainment aspects of tokamak plasmas2) Participation, with other European fusion scientists, in the JET programme, concentratingon assessing of the effect of JET's new metal plasma-facing wall on plasma performanceand the implications for ITER. In around 2015 there will be experiments using the fusion fuel(a mixture of deuterium and tritium) - JET is the only machine that can use tritium3) Improving structural and plasma-facing materials for fusion power stations through theoryand modelling (tested against experiments in UK universities) and assessments of theperformance of tungsten and beryllium in the new JET wall4) Designing specialist heating and measurement technologies for ITER, and facilitating theinvolvement of UK industry in the procurement of these and other ITER systems5) Gradually moving from ITER technologies to those needed for a demonstration fusionpower station to follow ITER, contributing to joint European design studies - some of thiswork will assist the less-developed laser-based inertial approach to fusion power stations,studied at the Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory, which would need similar neutron-captureand high heat flux technologies6) To help all of the above, tapping relevant UK university expertise in plasma and materialssciences and technology, with student training in many disciplines.